Series: James A Faith That Works
A letter from the book of James that serves as a how-to manual for the Christian life. When we deal with trials, contentions, and lack of faith, James teaches us that we can still have joy in the midst of our circumstances. The foundation of the book is the importance of faith that works; faith or the lack thereof can determine the direction of one’s life. Maturity is not age. It has nothing to do with how long you’ve lived or how long you’ve been a Christian. You can be a Christian for fifty years and not be mature. Bumper sticker: “I may be getting older, but I refuse to grow up.” I’ve seen some 50 and 60 year old kids. Maturity has nothing to do with your age. Granted, God’s ideal is that as we grow older, we get more mature, but that’s not always
the case. Maturity is not appearance. Some people just look mature. Some people just look more spiritual than the rest of us. They look kind of dignified, they look like they are holy. For the rest of us it’s just tough luck. The fact is, you can look really spiritual and not be spiritual at all. It has nothing to do with your appearance. God says it’s your attitude that determines whether you’re mature or not. God wants you to grow up and have Christlike attitudes. How do you measure spiritual maturity? Not by comparing yourself to other people but by comparing yourself to the word of God. In the book of James, we have a manual on maturity. The word “mature” in Greek is the word “teleaos” — it’s translated mature, complete, perfect. James uses this word five times in five chapters. James is a manual on how to be mature. James gives us five marks of maturity.