Maturity to Become a Strong Believer
Bible passage: Matthew 16:13-18
“13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?" 14. They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets." 15. "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17. Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
My height wasn't very tall, but I was still taller than average. However, my son is 10cm taller than me, so if I want to meet and talk to him, I have to look up like this. The height of Korean teenagers has increased significantly. Not only did their height increase, but their weight also increased significantly.
They grew bigger and taller. But the problem is that although they have grown much taller and bigger, their physical constitution is actually deteriorating. In particular, the condition of eyesight and teeth is said to be at a serious level. It is also said that not only the constitution but also the physical strength is weakening significantly. In particular, it is said that due to obesity, physical strength declines noticeably in sports such as ‘long running’ or ‘hanging on a bar’ that require perseverance. I think this can be applied to our religious life as well. Just as having a bigger physique does not mean that their physical strength or constitution becomes stronger, just because a church is old or you have lived in church for a long time does not mean that you are mature in your faith or spiritual fullness.
Although the church appears to be more fancy on the outside, bigger, and gathering more people, the spiritual constitution of the believers does not seem to have improved. Why does this happen? This is because there is a lack of training through the refinement. Today’s scripture is metaphorically like Jesus leaving Galilee, his place of ministry, with His disciples for a while and holding a ‘Servants’ of the Lord Seminar’. The Caesarea Philippi region is located at the foot of Mount Hermon at the northernmost tip of Israel and is a relatively quiet place. He had been through hardships and sorrows with His disciples for a long time, and He was checking to see how much their faith had grown. To this end, Jesus asks in verse 13, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” He then asks the disciples in verse 15, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter passed the first question in verse 16 by answering, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and Jesus praised him for growing in his faith.
However, he could not pass the second question. The second question appears in verse 21. When Jesus said that He will be killed and resurrected three days later, Peter responded in verse 22: He said, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you!” After hearing these words, Jesus harshly rebukes Peter in verse 23; Verse 23 says, “But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”” As a result, Peter's faith grew but did not mature.
Although his spiritual physique grew, his stamina of faith was lacking and he lacked spiritual depth. Today, in celebration of General Mobilization Sunday, under the title, ‘Maturity to Become a Stronger believer,’ I would like to convey the Lord's desire for us to become a stronger church and stronger believers, that is, church and believers who go beyond growth and reach maturity 1. In order to become a strong believer, you must have a well-centered life. The purpose of Jesus' question was to find out whether the disciples' lives were well centered. Peter’s confession in response to Jesus’ question, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” means that ‘Christ is the center of my life’. Peter's confession may seem obvious or normal to us, but it was huge at that time.
Because to the Jews, this confession is too shocking. To the Jews who nationally and socially base all their lives on Moses or David, Peter was saying that Moses or David are not the center of faith, but Jesus is the center of faith, and beyond the center of faith, He is the master of the world and the ruler of life. It means that Jesus is the center, and by saying such a thing, one could be stoned to death. ‘Among the famous people, who do you think will go to heaven when they die?’ Mother Teresa came in at 79%, that is, out of 1,000 people, 790 people chose Mother Teresa. Basketball player Michael Jordan got 65%, and the then Britain's Princess Diana came in at 60%. However, the most interesting thing in this survey is that there is a person who received a whopping 87% of support. Mother Teresa is also at 79%. So, if she is at 87%, isn't she really an amazing person? Who do you think it is? If you guess correctly, there is no gift, but guess what? Who do you think it is? ‘This person must go to heaven.
This person will definitely go to heaven.’ Who received the most support? Probably difficult to fit. Surprisingly, the correct answer is ‘yourself’. Speaking of ‘Mother Teresa’, she lived for the poor and the sick, and because of this, she even received the Nobel Peace Prize. If a person like this couldn’t go to heaven, who would go to heaven? But doesn’t it mean that you are a better person than that? However, this survey is focused on interest and not a survey to find out the truth. Whether Mother Teresa or Michael Jordan were saved really depends on whether they accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior. Christian ethicist Rielhold Niebuhr said that the nature of the first crime committed by humans was ‘self-centeredness.’ The enemy, the devil, tempted Adam and Eve, who had lived centered on God, to live ‘self-centered’ rather than God-centered life.
Genesis 3:5 says, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The temptation was that “you too could become like God.” God should be the center, but we have entered an era where ‘self’ has become the center. In other words, it has become ‘an era that has lost its center’. What happens if a speeding car loses its balance? What happens when a ship sailing powerfully through rough waves loses its balance? Accidents will occur. If a family loses its focus, it will be destroyed. If a building loses its balance, it will collapse. All theories and doctrines will collapse if their center is shaken. Most complex problems, failures, and fatal mistakes occur when we lose our balance and become unstable.
Preventing further failures and fatal mistakes lies in staying centered. The starting point for success and happiness lies in being centered. So, what should be the center of our believers’ lives? The reason for the believer's life and the center of life is Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, how many people are living self-centered, human-centered, material-centered, and world-centered, away from the center of ‘Jesus Christ’? Even though you say you live a life of faith and go to church diligently, when Jesus is not the center of your life, you feel meaningless and vain as you live without true peace and rest. Mental pain becomes worse and physical illness continues. When Jesus Christ is not the center of our lives, we lose all the blessings God has given us. When Adam and Eve lost their center on God, they also lost paradise. When King Saul lost his center on God, he lost everything.
When Judas Iscariot lost his center on Jesus, he betrayed Jesus. Even today, many people are living extremely nervous, anxious, and unhappy lives because they have not been able to meet Jesus, the center of their lives. Jesus Christ is our Lord and the center of our lives. Paul clearly knew this fact, so he confesses the following: He confessed in Romans 14:8 saying, “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” But what kind of life should we live in order to live out this confession? Whatever you do, you must think of Jesus first. Even when you wake up, Jesus should be the first thing that comes to mind.
Even when you works, you must think of Jesus. Whenever you eat or drink, you must think of Jesus. No matter what you do, you must think of Jesus first. A ship sailing the ocean navigates dangerous waters. Although the ship is constantly rocked by strong waves, the reason it does not sink is because the center of the ship is firmly established beneath it. Anyone who does not stand centered on God will inevitably be sunk by the winds and waves that come with life. However, there is one more important part of Peter's confession. It is important to confess that ‘the Lord is Christ,’ but it is also important to confess that he is ‘the Son of the living God.’ It seems like the ‘Living God’ has disappeared in Christianity these days. You cannot just say, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ He should be called ‘Son of the Living God.’ The German Nietzsche, who is called a great philosopher in the world, said, ‘God is dead.’ At that time, when the German church heard this, they did not remain silent and protested against Nietzsche saying, “God is dead, that is blasphemy, please apologize!” When the German church reacted like this, Nietzsche said, “Would I say such a thing without any basis? I have the basis that God is dead. What is the basis for that?” He continued to say, “The basis for this lies with that helpless German church. Look at that German church. That is proof that God is dead.
A church like that is God’s tomb.” The German church was at fault for being so helpless that it heard the sarcasm that “God is dead,” but Nietzsche, who had lost Jesus, the center of his life, suffered from mental illness and died a lonely and miserable death in a nursing home. Therefore, we should not be a helpless church like the German church at that time, but we should be a church that, like Peter's confession, is ‘a stage for the activities of God who is still alive and working.’ A believer was hospitalized with a serious illness. She was in despair over her illness, which was not getting any better, and was always crying as she stared at the wall of her hospital room. She wrote on her hospital room wall, ‘God is nowhere.’ While she was away for a moment to receive advice from her doctor, a nurse she trusted came in. The nurse was surprised to see her writing on her wall.
The nurse took out a ballpoint pen and put a check mark between the ‘w’ and ‘h’ in the word ‘nowhere’ to indicate that they should be read that way; And she read it spacing out and it came to ‘God is now here.’ The patient who returned to her hospital room found this article and met ‘God who lives now and here’, and his condition gradually improved and he was finally able to regain his health. In order to become a stronger church and a stronger believer, we must make Jesus Christ the center of our lives, believe in God who is alive and working today, and create such a church. 2. In order to become a stronger believer, you must move beyond growth to maturity. Turning to Peter, who, unlike the other disciples, stands at the very center of faith, Jesus proclaims that He will build His church on that rock. Verse 18 of the scripture says, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Here, the concepts of the ‘church’ in Protestant and Catholic churches differ.
The Catholic concept of the ‘church’ is that the rock was interpreted as the person of Peter, and the church was built on the person of Peter. So, Catholics consider Peter to be the first pope. However, Protestantism claims that the ‘rock’ here is not the person of Peter, but the ‘confession of faith’ that Peter said, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ If you look at the original Greek language for the ‘rock’ that Jesus spoke of here, the feminine noun ‘petra’ was used, while Peter’s name is the masculine noun ‘Petras’. Therefore, when Jesus said, “upon this rock I will build My church,” He was not saying that He was building a church on the person of Peter, but rather on the confession of faith that he made. If Peter had not confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” but had answered like everyone else, “You are a prophet like John the Baptist, Elijah, and Jeremiah,” would Jesus have said that He would build a church upon him? Absolutely not. Jesus praised Peter for making this confession of faith and said in verse 19, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven;….” In short, unlike other disciples, Peter was praised for having grown so much in faith that he could enter heaven even if he died at that moment.
But what is surprising is that Peter does something immature right afterward. In verse 21, Jesus says that He will be killed and be resurrected on the third day. And Peter answers in verse 22 saying, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to You!” And Jesus harshly rebukes Peter in verse 23 saying, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” When the disciples were examining their faith at the ‘Servant of the Lord Seminar’ in ‘Caesaria Philippi’, it was said that the disciples’ faith had not yet grown, and that Peter’s faith had grown but had not matured. In Matthew 16:22, Peter is scolding Jesus. The original Greek word for scolding is ‘epitimao’, which means ‘to criticize, rebuke.’ How dare you scold and rebuke Jesus, even if it doesn't suit your thoughts? But that's what Peter did. In other words, he was saying like, “Jesus! Please don't say such weak things. Please, why are you saying such useless things?” So, in verse 23, Jesus says, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me.” Here, the Greek word for ‘one who causes a fall’ is ‘skandalon’, which means ‘stumbling block, obstacle.’ A little while ago, it was a rock, petra, a ‘stepping stone’, but it immediately turned around and became a ‘stumbling stone.’ Although he had grown, he had not matured, leading to such immature personalities and imperfect actions. The church can be seen as composed of two types of believers. There are believers who act as ‘stepping stones’ for the Kingdom of God and for the church, while there are also believers who act as ‘stumbling blocks’.
It is not that the people sitting in front are ‘stepping stone believers’ and the people sitting behind are ‘stumbling stone believers.’ What we need to realize is that the tendencies of ‘stumbling blocks’ and ‘stepping stones’ are all within us. You can say, “No, that’s strange. Why is that believer acting like that? Those words and actions are a stumbling block to the church.” But something like that could be inside you too. Therefore, you should always be merciful and pitiful toward others, and as the saying goes in 1 Corinthians 10:12, you should always think that you can do the same and be careful. 1 Corinthians 10:12 says, “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” Towards a person who seems to be a stumbling block because he or she makes many mistakes in words and actions, say with a compassionate heart, “If that person changes, he too will be able to become a much better believer than me. We need to embrace and pray for him, saying, “Paul changed, and Peter also changed, so what a great worker he has become.””
And you must always reflect on yourself and think, “I could be a stumbling block,” and build yourself up as a “stepping stone.” Are you now a ‘stepping stone believer’ or a ‘stumbling stone believer’ at Nairobi Manmin Church? If you have grown in your faith, but your character or heart has not matured, there is a high possibility that you will become a stumbling block. Why do so many families have problems? As people grow up physically and become adults, they get married and have one or two children, but their personality was not mature, they were not mentally mature, and they were not spiritually mature, so the husband and the wife would fight over insignificant things and argue that they were right, and the family would end up fighting. If you don't take care of your child, drink alcohol without him, and get angry every now and then, problems and discord arise in the family. So, here are some things couples should keep in mind: 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”
Once you have grown up physically and got married, you must now let go of your childish thoughts, childlike personality, and childish attitude toward life and mature like an adult. So, there is a saying that life is not about growing old, but about maturing. Growth is necessary for maturity, and the goal of growth is maturity. Maturity means ripening. Fruits become delicious and attractive when they go beyond growth and reach maturity. Green apples are fresh but have a sour taste. As green apples ripen, they turn red and taste sweet. Just as fruit ripens, how pleased God would be if our character matures, our faith deepens, and our soul bears fruit.
As stated in Luke 2:52 which says, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man,” we can see that Jesus grew physically by growing taller. However, He did not stop growing, but grew in wisdom and became intellectually mature. He matured spiritually in a way that was lovely to God. He also matured into a socially lovable person. Jesus did not end with physical growth. He matured intellectually, spiritually, and socially. A person's physical growth stops at some point, but mental maturity, personal maturity, and spiritual maturity occur throughout one's life. So, Ephesians 4:15 says, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every aspect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.” God loves us just as we are.
But He does not want us to remain as we are. God wants us to mature. Mature people are wise, have excellent discernment and insight. And if a problem arises, they know how to figure out the cause of the problem. As said in Philippians 4:11-12, a mature person knows how to be content, and as said in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, he or she is thankful in all things. A mature person is one who prays in the Holy Spirit as said in Ephesians 6:18. Many problems in life arise from immaturity. If you are immature, you get angry easily. If you are immature, you have severe emotional ups and downs. You speak and make decisions too lightly. You get hurt by people's words and easily misunderstand them. Such people don't have the perspective to see the whole picture, so they become restless when even small problems arise. But mature people are different. Mature people have depth.
Their words have weight. They have an eye for seeing the whole picture. They like variety of people and adapt well to change. The personality of Jesus is a ripe personality. The language of Jesus is a profound language. We can learn the pinnacle of mature love in the life of Jesus, who gave His life on the cross for humanity. Dear believers, it seems that your faith has grown as you have received positions and missions over time, but I hope that you will shed your childlike immaturity and reach maturity in terms of your character and content of faith. 3. In order to become a stronger believer, you must strengthen your constitution of maturity through spiritual training. Because of Peter's faith that had not matured even after that, before Jesus was crucified, He went up to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed until His sweat turned into drops of blood on the ground, but Peter was sleeping.
Afterwards, when Jesus was captured and taken to the house of the priest Caiaphas, Peter denied knowing Jesus three times. These are all ‘side effects of a life of faith’ that appear because people appear to have faith, but really their faith is not mature. After Jesus was resurrected, He met Peter while he was fishing on the Sea of Galilee and asked him three times, “Do you love me?” He taught him what true spiritual love is and gave him spiritual training to help him develop a mature constitution of faith. When David was a shepherd, he was anointed by the prophet Samuel, indicating that he would become the king. At that time he could be considered to be approximately 17 years old. However, he did not immediately become king just because he was anointed as king. David officially became king at the age of 30, and God made him go through suffering and persecution under King Saul for almost 13 years until he became king. Why did they do that?
If David becomes king at the age of 17, he will be an immature king and will not be able to govern the country well, so he was trained for a long time with the purpose of making him a mature king. Jacob also received the birthright through his older brother Esau, but he did not immediately receive the blessing of the firstborn. He spent 20 years of refinement and hardship in the house of his maternal uncle Laban, allowing him to mature in character and faith to become the ancestor of the twelve tribes. Growth is possible in a short period of time, but maturity takes a long time. Among us, there may be people who first believed in Jesus and grew in faith, but their religious character has not matured. As they longed for the power of the shepherd and the ‘gospel of holiness’ at Manmin Central Church in Korea, many pastors from other denominations came to Manmin Church to learn the ‘gospel of holiness,’ and even changed denominations and became pastors at Manmin Church.
Unfortunately, among the pastors who came from outside, only a few servants of the Lord remain. Why did they do that? This is because the training in faith to serve as a servant of the Lord of Manmin church was not easy. In order to learn and master the gospel of holiness, we had to listen to the senior pastor's sermons twice a week, organize them, and submit them. We had to summarize and submit one book of the senior pastor's books every month. We had to read the entire Bible once a year. It was never easy to put the gospel into practice in one's life and bear fruit in one's mission, and to go to church every night and pray fervently for at least three hours to discover oneself and circumcise one's heart. Since they had to visit and take care of the believers' homes all the time from morning to evening after work, I didn't have much time to rest or sleep at home.
At Manmin Church in Korea, not only the servants of the Lord but also most of the regular believers receive a similar level of religious training. Because of this intense training in faith, many of the servants of the Lord who came from outside had a hard time keeping up with the Word and prayer training and ended up dropping out. Therefore, the Emeritus Senior Pastor even said, “I can never exchange the deacons of Manmin Church with the servants of the Lord from external churches.” Even if you become a deacon at Manmin Church, you have a strong constitution of faith and have reached the highest level of maturity in faith through the circumcision of your heart. What kind of training is needed to become a church that has greater revival and use, and to become stronger believers? 1 Timothy 4:7-8 says, “Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” Among the trainings that lead to godliness, the most important thing is training in the Word. It is a training to put the Word into practice in life and bear fruit. The reason believers cannot stand strong in their faith is because they lack maturity regarding the Word. In the end times, the Word must become the standard. In the Word, our religious character must mature, and our words and actions must become cultured and dignified. Robert Woodruff, former Coca-Cola president, said, “Coca-Cola flows through my veins, not blood.” You must let the blood of Jesus and the blood of God's Word flow in your veins. You should be able to say like this, “I am filled with only Jesus. I must only be filled with the Gospel of holiness within me.”
I opened ‘Manmin Academy’ in our church and opened MIS to learn the Gospel of holiness, and I was surprised. This is because I thought that if I created a holiness study class, a huge number of believers would flock to it, but that was not the case. So, I thought, “Aha, our Nairobi Manmin Church members still lack a love for the Word,” and I was very disappointed. This is a 'Bible study class' created for our members, but the pastors from outside churches love and study it more than our members. In the future, if you want to become a deacon or worker in our church, you will have to learn the Gospel of holiness at least through MIS in order to be qualified. In this era of confusion in values, we need to know the Bible. You must stick to what you have learned and are convinced of.
2 Timothy 3:14-15 says, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” In the Gospel of Luke, there is a story about two disciples who were discouraged after seeing Jesus die on the cross and went to Emmaus, where they met the resurrected Jesus and were completely restored. Luke 24:32 says, “~~~~~~Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They confessed that our heart became warm when the Bible was opened to us. It was not when they met the resurrected Lord, talked to Him, and had a meal with Him, but when He ‘opened the Bible to them,’ their heart warmed up, disappointment and discouragement disappeared, and they regained their mature faith. Are any of you feeling discouraged? There may be some people whose plans don't work out. Is there anyone whose heart is broken? You must always have a warm heart. When your heart grows cold and your faith grows cold, I hope that you will always live passionately by listening to the Word, reading the Word, meditating on the Word, studying the Word, and putting the Word into practice. Conclusion It is said that the Chicago River in the United States originally flowed from the Chicago area toward Lake Michigan.
However, as Chicago's population increased, the drains became polluted, the rivers became polluted, and life became uncomfortable due to the decaying smell. To solve this problem, city authorities artificially reversed the flow of water from Lake Michigan to Chicago and the Mississippi River. By digging a new canal and artificially raising the water level on the lake side, the river flowed in the opposite direction. As a result, the Chicago River water became clean again and the area became a tourist attraction. ‘Have you stopped maturing to become a stronger believer?’ If so, please try changing the direction of the flow of your life. It shouldn't just go on like that. In order for clean water to flow through our hearts, we must dig up the dirty debris to create a canal, and raise the dam of the Word so that the river of grace flows down from the throne of heaven. Is the river of prayer flowing in you smoothly?
Is the river of the Word flowing in you smoothly? If there is no fruit of growth and maturity so far, the direction of the stream of your faith must be changed. I said three things today. First, the center of your life must be Jesus Christ. Second, we must move beyond growth to maturity. Third, training in the Word is necessary. I pray in the name of the Lord that your faith will flow well in the direction of maturity and that as your faith grows, your character of faith and the content of your life will also mature into maturity, and you will become stronger believers. - END -
