The Marks of a Mature Christian
1 Timothy 6:11-16
Preached by Jason Tarn at HCC on October 10th, 2010

Introduction (SHOW INTRO SLIDE)
* One way to ruin to my morning is to finally sit down at my desk, take out the banana I¡¦ve brought to work, peel it open, take my first bite, expecting something soft and sweet ¡V only to have a tough, bland, starchy taste in my mouth. I¡¦m talking about an unripe banana. It looks perfect on the outside. It¡¦s spotless and golden yellow. But it¡¦s so deceiving.

# In fact, it¡¦s the spotted banana that¡¦s been sitting in my kitchen for days ¡V that I didn¡¦t choose that morning because it looked nasty ¡V that one is actually ripe. It needed enough time for the starch inside to be converted to sugar, and the way you know the process is done is by looking for the brown spots. It¡¦s counterintuitive, but it¡¦s the
spotted banana that¡¦s the ripe banana. Now you wouldn¡¦t know that if you didn¡¦t know the characteristics of a mature banana.

* I bring that up because this morning I want us to consider the identifiable characteristics of a mature Christian. I want to talk about the distinctive marks of Christian maturity. Because the truth is ¡V just like picking a banana ¡V we can easily be deceived. The person you think is spiritually ripe and mature, in reality, may not be.

# So what do you look for if you¡¦re trying to gauge your own maturity or that of another person? Things like going to church, singing loudly, doing devotionals, having right theology or the right answers ¡V these are good things ¡V but they are not the distinctive marks of Christian maturity. You can exhibit all those characteristics and still be what the Bible calls a ¡¥spiritual babe¡¦.

* That¡¦s why I¡¦m raising this question: What does a mature Christian look like? What are the particular characteristics that identify a believer as spiritually mature or at least on the way? What should I be looking for in my life or in the lives of others?

# Be prepared to be uncomfortable. You may come to realize that you have some maturing left to do. But that¡¦s okay. That¡¦s what the Word of God is supposed to do. It¡¦s supposed to convict while, at the same time, hold out promises that comfort and encourage us towards greater maturity in Christ.

The Context of our Passage
*So our passage this morning is 1 Timothy 6:11-16. Let¡¦s begin by considering some context. Remember the Apostle Paul is writing to Timothy, the young pastor of this growing church in Ephesus. He tells us in chapter 3:14 that the purpose of his letter is to provide instructions for how they ought to conduct themselves as the household of God and to charge Timothy to faithfully carry out his duties as their pastor, which includes confronting some false teachers who were teaching different doctrine (1:3; 6:13).

# So at the close of this letter, Paul charges Timothy to live in stark contrast to these false teachers, to be different, to be mature, to be a man of God. Notice he calls him a ¡¥man of God¡¦ in v11.

* Now that¡¦s a loaded phrase. It¡¦s common and cliche for us, but to someone like Timothy, a student of the OT, that title ¡¥man of God¡¦ immediately brings to mind the likes of Moses, Samuel, David, or Elijah. Only a few men in the OT received that honored title.

# In fact, v11 is the only place in the NT where a person is directly addressed as a ¡¥man of God¡¦. So Paul is not using it lightly. He knows and Timothy knows that being a ¡¥man of God¡¦ means something.

+ It means you¡¦re God¡¦s man. It¡¦s a possessive phrase. It means Timothy belongs to God. God is his master. This, of course, is in contrast to the false teacher who Paul describes as a 'lover of money'. You could call him ' Money¡¦s Man'. Money is his master. But Timothy is God¡¦s Man.

* I think by calling him that, Paul was trying to inspire Timothy to continue maturing into a man of God. And in the same way, that should be the heartbeat of every Christian ¡V a burning desire to be mature, to be known as God¡¦s man or God¡¦s woman.

The Marks of a Mature Christian
* So what does a mature Christian look like? According to our text, there are five characteristics by which the mature Christian is identified ¡V five distinctive marks. Let me put them in a way you can remember (adapted from an outline by John MacArthur). A
mature Christian is marked by what you flee from, what you follow after, what you fight for, what you fasten onto, and what you are faithful to.

1) A mature Christian is marked by what you flee from. (SHOW SLIDE)
* Notice how v11 begins with a contrast. "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things." Now the ¡¥these things¡¦ are referring to what Paul mentioned before in vv3-10. He¡¦s talking about the characteristics of the false teachers. ¡¥These things¡¦ refer to the conceit, the controversy, the divisiveness, the greed ¡V these things that marked the false teachers.

# Paul is warning Timothy to flee these sin and temptations. (SHOW SLIDE) Now that word ¡¥flee¡¦ is rather interesting. Every time it¡¦s used in the NT it suggests a fleeing from a perceived danger. So in Matthew 2:13, Joseph and family flee from King Herod who seeks their life. In Mark 14:50, the disciples flee from Gethsemane in fear of their lives.

* So Paul¡¦s command for Timothy to ¡¥flee¡¦ is a warning to run away from danger. Now in one sense, that comes natural to us. It¡¦s the fight-or-flight reflex. When certain dangers threaten us, a natural response is ¡¥flight¡¦, to flee.

# But when it comes to spiritual dangers and spiritual threats, fleeing doesn¡¦t come natural. Instead of running from them, we entertain them. Instead of fleeing certain sins and temptations, we tolerate them. Why? Probably because we don¡¦t really see them as a threat.

* Take covetousness (the love of money), for example, since Paul mentions it in v10. In a typical North American, well-to-do, university-educated, congregation, a sin like covetousness often gets a free pass. We easily tolerate it.

# But when it comes to stealing, embezzling, defrauding ¡V well that¡¦s bad. That¡¦s dangerous. But coveting your neighbor¡¦s new car, his big screen TV, his pretty wife, his perfectly behaved kids ¡V that¡¦s not so bad. That¡¦s understandable.

+ But the mark of a mature Christian is the ability to see the clear and present danger in every sin ¡V no  atter how small or how tolerated by those around you ¡V and to have the readiness to flee from it.

* I grew up in the Boy Scouts and I remember reading in my scout manual how to tell the difference between a harmless king snake and the deadly coral snake. They were both threebanded snakes made up of red, yellow and black bands, but they differ in the color order. So we were taught a rhyme, ¡§Red on yellow, kill a fellow. Red on black, friend of Jack.¡¨

# Well I remember one camping trip, we were hiking along and a bunch of us boys were trying to recall the rhyme. Noticing our trouble, our Scoutmaster interrupted and said, ¡§Look boys, I¡¦ve got an easier saying to remember ¡V see a three-banded snake, RUN!¡¨

*Now there¡¦s a lot of wisdom in that. So also in the Christian life, there are times, when in the face of temptation, the only recourse is to run. Don¡¦t entertain the sin. Don¡¦t try to analyze it. Don¡¦t test yourself, seeing how close you can get before it bites. No, that¡¦s the mark of immaturity.

# Mature Christians know when it¡¦s time to run. They understand the dangers of sin, and they know their own weaknesses. So when sin and temptation rear their ugly heads, they flee.

2) A mature Christian is marked by what you follow after. (SHOW SLIDE)
* Whenever you flee one direction, you¡¦re pursuing another. So after Paul warns Timothy to flee evil, he continues in v11 with a command to ¡§pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.¡¨

# What this means is that Christian maturity requires more than just avoiding evil ¡V but also doing good. Just because you know how to avoid what¡¦s bad doesn¡¦t mean you¡¦re mature. The mature are known more by what they follow after than what they avoid. So let¡¦s consider the six virtues that Timothy is told to pursue, which can be broken down into three pairs.

* The first pair, righteousness and godliness, describe both the inner heart and the outward conduct. A mature Christian is one who pursues after (and is known for) his righteous motives and his godly behavior.

# The second pair, faith and love, represent the essential virtues of a mature Christian. They¡¦re usually paired together because a mature Christian not only trusts God for salvation but also treasures God over all other loves in his life. For the mature, God is not only the object of faith but the supreme object of desire.

* The third pair, steadfastness and gentleness, represent the right response to a world hostile to the gospel. In the original, the word for ¡¥steadfastness¡¦ is a combination of the word ¡¥under¡¦ and ¡¥stay¡¦. So literally it calls us to ¡¥stay under¡¦ a heavy burden.

# The word for ¡¥gentleness¡¦ is a combination of ¡¥gentle¡¦ and the cognate for the verb ¡¥to suffer¡¦, so there is an idea of gentleness in the midst of suffering. So taken together, a mature Christian is one who is marked by the ability to stay under the attacks of a hostile world and still be gentle in his dealings with hostile people.

* So righteousness & godliness, faith & love, steadfastness & gentleness -- these are six virtues that a mature believer in Christ will follow after. And it really just boils down to pursuing the character of Christ. (SHOW SLIDE) Those six virtues perfectly describe Jesus.

* Friends, let me ask you a personal question. Is the sum aggregate of your Christian experience mainly about trying to avoid certain sins? Is that what your Christian life has come to? If I were to ask your friends how they know you¡¦re a Christian, would they tell me it¡¦s because you don¡¦t curse, you don¡¦t get drunk and you don¡¦t sleep around? o A mature Christian is not only known by what sins they avoid but also by what good they pursue. Not just what they flee from but what they follow after.

3) A mature Christian is marked by what you fight for. (SHOW SLIDE)
* Not only does he flee and follow, he fights. Look at v12: ¡§Fight the good fight of the faith.¡¨ Isn¡¦t it interesting that right after telling Timothy to pursue gentleness, Paul commands him to fight? Apparently they¡¦re not in contradiction. You can be gentle and a fighter.

* This verb ¡¥to fight¡¦ is the word ¡¥agonizomai¡¦ and the noun is ¡¥agon¡¦ ¡V where we derive the English word ¡¥agony¡¦ or ¡¥agonize¡¦. It was used in both the realms of combat and athletics. So Paul could have in mind a battle or a race. Regardless, what¡¦s in view is an intense struggle. Literally, he¡¦s telling Timothy to ¡§agonize the good agony¡¨. And the tense implies a continuous action. It¡¦s not a one time battle or race. It¡¦s a continual struggle.

# But now we need to ask: what are we agonizing and struggling for? Well according to v12, it¡¦s a good fight of the faith. (SHOW SLIDE) But what does that mean? On one level, it means Timothy is to fight for the faith. That is, to fight for the purity and truthfulness of the gospel because it was being challenged by false teachers.

* But the good fight of the faith could also be a fight to keep faith, to keep believing. Notice how in v10, Paul warned that some, eager for money, have wandered away from ¡¥the faith¡¦. The false teachers stopped believing the gospel. So the fight is to do the exact opposite. The fight is to persevere in faith.

* Now I¡¦ll be the first to admit that it¡¦s not easy. Faith in God is hard. When prayers are not answered, when all I see is disappointment in my life ¡V my sinful flesh, this fallen world, and my enemy the devil ¡V all three work together to create unbelief in my heart, to make me doubt the goodness and wisdom of God. So if I want to keep believing and mature in my faith to any degree, I have to fight for it.

* But an immature Christian despises all this talk of spiritual fighting. He¡¦ll say it sounds too hard, too tiring, too burdensome. But he¡¦s got it all wrong. As John Piper puts it: The fight of faith ¡§is not a struggle to carry a burden but a struggle to let a burden be carried for us.¡¨

# What that means is that our fight is not a fight to do more, to work harder. It¡¦s a fight to believe more, to believe harder ¡V to trust that Jesus has carried our burdens to the cross. Our fight is the fight to release control and to more fully rely on Christ.

* Picture yourself on a river in a rowboat. You have two options. You can go upstream or down. To go upstream, you¡¦ll have to fight against the current and row hard. But if you want to go downstream, you can just take your hands off the oars and let the current take you.

# Now that option sounds nice and relaxing, but there is something you need to know about this river. This river flows downstream towards a mighty waterfall. And at the bottom of this waterfall are jagged rocks that will destroy you and your rowboat.

* So it is with life, there is no standing still. The option is not between fighting the good fight OR standing still. No, you¡¦re either fighting against the currents of unbelief in this world (and in your flesh) OR you¡¦re being carried away by them, heading towards sure destruction. You go one way or the other.

# That¡¦s why the mature in Christ row hard. That¡¦s why they fight and struggle and agonize against the currents of unbelief. They know the alternative is to risk a shipwreck of faith.

4) A mature Christian is marked by what you fasten onto. (SHOW SLIDE)
* Look back at the second half of v12. It says, ¡§Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.¡¨

# Here Paul is referring to the public confession of faith that Timothy most likely made at his baptism. And just like anyone today who confesses their need of Jesus and demonstrates their conversion through baptism, he or she has eternal life (John 3:36). The Christian possesses it now.

* But notice in v12 Paul is commanding Timothy to take hold of eternal life. It¡¦s rather strange don¡¦t you think? That Paul would have to tell Timothy ¡V the pastor, who¡¦s not a recent convert ¡V to take hold of eternal life. Why is he being told to take hold of something he already has?

# As John Stott puts it, ¡§It¡¦s possible to possess something without embracing it and enjoying it.¡¨ So potentially, you could possess eternal life without embracing it, without taking hold of it as yours. But the mark of a mature Christian is that he or she fastens onto eternal life. (SHOW SLIDE)

* It¡¦s the immature Christian who possesses eternal life like he possesses a concert ticket. He knows he¡¦s going to the concert but it wont be for months. So what does he do with his ticket right now? He stuffs it in his wallets or in his desk. He¡¦ll take it out and enjoy it one day, but right now eternal life is just a future reality ¡V not a present experience.

* But Paul¡¦s point is that while every Christian has eternal life in their grips ¡V only the mature are gripped by it. Only the mature have fastened onto the future reality of eternal life ¡V so tight that it bleeds into their present experience. Eternal life is making a difference in their lives right now.

* Friends, you are growing in spiritual maturity, if the gift of eternal life is actually changing you right now ¡V changing your priorities, changing how you spend your money, how you view your possessions, how you treat others, how you go about your work or your studies, how you raise your children or treat your spouse.

# To gauge your maturity, ask yourself, ¡§Have I taken hold of the eternal life that God has given me? Or to put it in other words, has eternal life taken hold of me?¡¨

5) A mature Christian is marked by what you¡¦re faithful to. (SHOW SLIDE)
* I see this in vv13-16. ¡§I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time¡Xhe who is the blessed and only Sovereign,
the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.¡¨

# If you look at v14, here Paul gives us the fifth mark of maturity. A mature Christian is marked by faithfulness to ¡§keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach¡¨.

* Now what does that mean? What is ¡¥the commandment¡¦ that Timothy is supposed to keep? Specifically it¡¦s referring to the commands to flee, follow, fight and fasten that we¡¦ve considered in vv11-12 but now taken as a whole. But more generally, we can read ¡¥the commandment¡¦ as shorthand for Timothy¡¦s life and calling. (SHOW SLIDE) The commandment is the sum of everything Timothy is commanded to do and be as a Christian and especially as one called to pastor this church.

# This charge to keep his life and calling free of stain and reproach is simply a restatement of what Paul already said in chapter 4:16, ¡§Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.¡¨

* That¡¦s what mature Christians do ¡V they keep a close watch on their life and doctrine. They live their lives and carry out their callings with such honor and integrity that they adorn the gospel. As Paul says in Titus 2:10, they make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

Good and Bad News
* So let¡¦s summarize what we¡¦ve seen so far. The marks of mature Christians are as follows: 1) They flee from all sin and temptation, 2) They follow after the character of Christ till it is reflected in their own lives, 3) They fight the good fight to persevere in faith, 4) They fasten onto eternal life until it bleeds into their present experience, and 5) They are faithful to keep
the first four commands and to keep their lives and callings free from any stain or reproach.

* Now some of you might be feeling pretty low right now. As you consider these marks of spiritual maturity, you¡¦re coming to realize you¡¦re still immature in the faith. You have a ways to go. Well I have bad news to tell you and good news. Let¡¦s start with the bad.

# The bad news is that this charge to be a mature man or woman of God, this charge to keep your life and calling free of stain and reproach ¡V Paul is giving this charge in the presence of God (v13).

* He¡¦s implying that one day we will all stand before ¡§the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords¡¨, and we will give an account of how we kept this charge.

# On that day, the light of his perfect holiness will shine on us like a spotlight. And all the times we failed to flee sin OR fell short of following after righteousness OR surrendered in the fight of faith OR loosened our grip on eternal life ¡V every shortfall, every stain, every blemish in our lives will be revealed on that day.

+ Like under a black light used on CSI, even the stains you thought were hidden and covered up for good will be exposed.
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* It¡¦s no wonder Paul says that God dwells in unapproachable light (v16). On one hand, we are too ashamed to approach, too scared to find out what his holiness might reveal. But at the same time, even if we wanted to approach, we can¡¦t. We can¡¦t even look at him. Paul says in v16, no one has ever seen God or can see him. No one has ever gazed directly at the unshielded glory of his holiness.

# It would be like looking directly into the sun. But then again, the holiness of God burns a billion times brighter and hotter than the sun. Sinners like us can no further approach God than an ice cube can approach the sun. To try ould be the end of us.

* This is the bad news. Considering the marks of maturity made me feel bad enough. Now you¡¦re saying that I¡¦m accountable before God to perfectly exhibit these marks in my life without stain or reproach? Now I¡¦m depressed.

# It¡¦s depressing to think about how stained we are and how unapproachable God is. How can we do? The stain of sin runs too deep in our souls. No matter how hard we scrub, we can¡¦t wash it out. We try to live a good life, we ractice religion, but it won¡¦t help. The stain has settled in.

* Like I said, this is bad news. But now you¡¦re ready for good news. The good news is that even though God dwells in unapproachable light, he made a way for sinners like us to still approach. He did so by sending his beloved Son. Paul recognizes this, and so he makes a point of also giving this charge in the presence of Christ Jesus (v13).

* If you recall, at his trial, Pilate asked him if he was the King of the Jews, and Jesus made the good confession, which sealed his fate. It sent him to the cross. But Jesus was not the tragic victim of Roman injustice.

# No, he laid down his life willingly, for through the cross he reconciled sinners to God. Through his flesh, he paved a new and living way to approach the unapproachable.

* The good news of the gospel is that Jesus came to live the mature life we should have lived and to die the guilty death we should have died. And by faith in him, by resting all your hope in all that Jesus has done for you ¡V you may now approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12). That¡¦s good news.

* Friends, you need to hear this and believe this because without the confidence to approach God through Christ, you will continue to strive for maturity with a heavy burden of guilt and shame on your shoulders ¡V knowing that you¡¦re never quite mature enough.

# And so your efforts to mature will be driven by fear ¡V fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of punishment. Now no doubt fear can be an effective motivator, but that¡¦s not Christianity. Christianity is not driven by fear but by love.

+ It¡¦s our love for God, our gratitude for Jesus, and our faith in his promises that should motivate us to become mature men and women of God. That¡¦s the only way to please God.

Conclusion
* Let me end by drawing your attention to an important phrase in v14, ¡§until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which [God] will display at the proper time.¡¨

* Friends, I realize that fleeing and following and fighting and fastening and trying to be faithful is hard work. It¡¦s tough! But one day it will all be finished. We need only to agonize until the appearing of our Lord Jesus.

* Just think about it: When Christ returns, all sin and temptation will be eradicated. So there will be no more fleeing.

# When Christ returns, we will be fully sanctified, perfectly resembling the character of Christ. So there will be no more following after virtue.

+When Christ returns, there will be no more fighting to keep faith because faith will be no more. We will see face to face, so faith is no longer needed. You can put down your sword. The fight is done.

- When Christ returns, there will be no more fastening because we will have finally taken hold of the prize of eternal life.

o And lastly, when Christ returns, after all our striving to be faithful, we will finally hear those sweet words, ¡§Well done, good and faithful servant. Come and share your master¡¦s joy!¡¨ Amen.