By Rev Daniel Yaw

Introduction
 
To the family of FCC, this month we celebrate our 16th anniversary.  We look back with gratitude to God for his guiding hands upon us from day one will what it is today.  We attribute all glory to God and the faithfulness of His servants through her leadership.
After all these years, how have we grown?  How have become more mature?  I was meditating on this verse from the book of Hebrews that speaks about the maturity of God’s beloved through his word. 
 
Hebrews 5:11-13
"But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by the constant practice to distinguish good from evil." (verse 13)

Maturity is something we all strive for.  Children want to mature, Christians want to mature and churches want to mature!  We all need that.  How is maturity seen and how does it develop?  I believe all of these is a continual process but that process must be ongoing.  We will only be perfect when we meet the Lord. 
However, here are some gleanings from the passage of Hebrews.


Maturity by the Word

The very foundation is the Word of God.  The meditation of God's word that brings about understanding is what we all need.  We can never stop reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God.  The trouble is that after many years, there is a possibility of growing dull hearing.  We begin to slack in our study of the word of God.  We became less excited about hearing the Word of God.  As a preacher, I realized that the temptation to not meditate upon His Word is great because the passage is somewhat familiar.  As a preacher, I also see that it is the new believers or visitors who are more excited about the Word of God being preached.  Never become dull of hearing!
Let us remember that we must never get too familiar with the Word of God until we do not hear his voice anymore. 
Do we still appreciate the word of God when we read it?  Or do we get excited with God’s word when we hear it preached after all these years?

 
Maturity by the Discernment

The maturity founded in the Word enables us to be discerning.  While many think that discernment is a gift - yes, it is.  Yet that gift is fuelled by the fact that one is absorbed in the Word of God.  It gives them the "powers of discernment".  

Discernment is the ability to divide what is right and what is wrong. 
Discernment is the ability to know what to do and what to avoid. 
Discernment is the ability to know what is from God and what is not.

The apostle Paul constantly wrote to the churches that we all need the spirit of discernment.

 
Maturity by Obedience

Then lastly, I realized in my Christian journey, that maturity comes with obedience.  "The Word of God transforms lives!" - sounded so true yet it is not true.  I think as Rev Edmund Chan puts it, it is not the Word of God that transforms, it is the APPLIED Word of God that transforms lives. 
Notice that the writer says, " the power of discernment TRAINED by the constant PRACTICE to distinguish good from evil.
Obedience to righteousness enables us to discern what is good and what is not evil.
Many Christians stop short of knowing but not applying.  Most of us know quite a bit what the Word of God says.  The struggle and the battle are obeying what God tells us.  The prophet of old says that God prefers obedience rather than sacrifice.
Obedience begins in our heart and when that happens, we walk in the ways of God and fulfill His purposes.

 
Conclusion

One of the pillars or core values of FCC is the Word – that we would all be rooted in the Word.  That speaks of how the Word of God would govern our lives.  It is more than head knowledge; it is heart and feet knowledge.  Let us then move towards this maturity process as we celebrate our anniversary

by Rev Daniel Yaw

By Rev Daniel Yaw

"Therefore, let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity."  (verse 1)
Having served the Lord for so many years, it is so easy to relax and pat our hands on our shoulders and say, “Not bad after all these years.” Is that quite enough?  I fell with the apostle Paul who said, “But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I should be disqualified.” 
We live each day by the grace of God.  The greatest assurance we have is the presence of God that is promised to His beloved.  However, lest we take for granted his grace and become presumptuous, there is a warning of the possibility of falling away.

Falling Away

There is much debate over Calvin's doctrine of salvation.  As I looked at the verse above, it is not a cause for argument really but a sober awakening.  While the words are serious and heavy, "For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God... and then have fallen away, to restore them to repentance".
This is indeed something sobering in that even the apostle Paul speaks about being careful lest after all his preaching, he should be disqualified.  It is a call not to take the grace of God for granted.  
It is a reminder of the "great salvation" we have in Christ and we should not be throwing it away and falling away.
As I penned these words, it is not to frighten us but only to sober us.  We must observe how we walk.  One of those sobering thoughts is that we must guard from falling away – either deliberately or even drifting away.

Faithfully Advancing

The flip side is really about being faithful to God.  The writer tells us to "leave the elementary and go on to maturity".  It means we continue faithfully in our walk.  A faithful walk is always a progressive and advancing walk toward maturity.  God plans that we will all become like him from glory to glory.  Therefore, we must be faithful in our call, in our walk, and in our service.  While it sounded like a warning, this verse is an assurance that as long as we are faithful, we have nothing to fear about losing our salvation.
The message by the writer is that we must remain faithful and not idle our lives away.  No matter how old we are, how long we have served, or how big an achievement we have obtained, we must always be found faithful in our walk and our service.

Conclusion

How are you and I faring today?  We are not talking about yesterday but today.  As I thought of this, I thought of our camp once again – the theme being, “Living a life worthy of God.”, I pray that we will indeed be found faithful to walk a life worthy of the calling by which we have been called.

May I offer this prayer and make this prayer yours today?

Lord Jesus, thank you for the reminder of such great and gracious salvation that I have that I am now a child of God.  May my desire is always to be thankful and a determination to be faithful to you.  Enable me by your Holy Spirit to stick faithfully to you.  In Jesus' name, Amen.