Grown – Embracing Christian Adulthood – Part 2

Review

We defined “grown” as the state people are in when they have reached a certain age and can be expected to take care of themselves.

• Let’s review
  • I’m grown.
  • Therefore, I have business.
  • Therefore, I must handle my business.

One more piece to the puzzle

• I’m grown.
• Therefore, I have business.
• Therefore, I must handle my business.
• Therefore, I can do what I want to do.

When you “handle your business,” you believe that you can now do whatever you want to do. It’s like a reward.

When You’re “Grown,” You are Accountable only to Yourself.

The Reality of Mature Adulthood

• Children do whatever they want to do when they want to do them.
• Mature adults don’t do what they prefer to do a lot of the time.
• Mature adults do things they don’t prefer to do a lot of the time.

To be a mature adult is to have the same options as other adults, but limiting yourself to what is acceptable to the Father.

Jesus is our example, and He did only what pleased the Father.

Jesus had a will, but He submitted it to the Father.

Here’s the thing:

• What the Father wills is good.
• What the Father wills is good for you.
• What the father wills is good for everyone else.

What is encompassed in God’s concept of good is human flourishing?

God is interested in human flourishing to His own glory.

What is human flourishing?

What is any kind of flourishing?

• “To flourish is to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment.” (Oxford Languages Online Dictionary)

Ephesians 4:11–16 (ESV)

¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephesians 4:11 (ESV): ¹¹ And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,

[Quotations cited from Alan Hirsh, The Forgotten Ways: Reactivating the Missional Church, Brazos Press, Michigan, 2006, p.170]

Apostles

• “[establish] the church in new contexts”
• “develop leaders and leadership systems”

Prophets

• “discern and communicate God’s will”
• “ensuring the obedience of the covenant community”
• “questioning the status quo”

Evangelists

• “making clear the offer of salvation so that people might hear and respond in faith”
• Enlisting people “to the cause”

Pastors (Shepherds)

• “cultivating a loving and spiritually mature network of relationships and community”
• “making disciples”

Teachers

• “Helping the faith community to explore and to understand the mind of God”

Ephesians 4:12 (ESV):  ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,

Ephesians 4:13 (ESV): ¹³ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

Ephesians 4:14 (ESV): ¹⁴ so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.

Ephesians 4:15 (ESV): ¹⁵ Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,

Ephesians 4:16 (ESV): ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

© Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2024