The Lighthouse Keeper

Greetings from Pastor Kerry, former pastor of Spring City UMC. This blog contains my sermon outlines and/or manuscripts from my pastorate among the people of Spring City PA, from 2006 to 2011. Pastor Dennis is now the lighthouse keeper. Come and worship on Sundays at 10:00 a.m.! www.springcityumc.org

Sunday, February 13, 2011

On Maturity in Discipleship

February 13, 2011
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany


On Maturity in Discipleship
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
Neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything,
but the only one who is anything is God who makes it grow. – 1 Corinthians 2:7


My sermon outline:

• I ran every day of January. End of year I rose at 6am 4x a week for Bible and prayer and reflection. Now it’s 3rd week of Feb & I’m feeling the slack. I resist the discipline, but I like the fruit of the discipline. Feel healthier in body and spirit.

What has that to do with Corinth? On the surface nothing. Paul’s talking @division, @bickering, @immaturity. Honestly or naively we’re not really divided.

But Paul has an indirect point: okay he says it directly, but there’s a corollary...

God provides the growth. Which means we can interfere. Which is what had happened with the Corinthians getting worked up about Paul and Apollos.

In addition to We can interfere, we can cooperate. We can work together. We can move towards maturity together.

• Hey, Paul talked about maturity in the beginning of chap 3. said the Corinthians were like babies.

That’s why I was talking about discipline. When I’m disciplined, it’s a kind a maturity. When I’m not, well, I’m not.

• So what are marks of mature disciplined disciple?

“As I reflected on the meaning of maturity, I realized that there is a central mark of maturity. In the human physical realm, maturity is gauged by when a person is able to bear or father children. A tree is mature when it bears fruit. A stalk of grain is mature when it can be harvested. In all creation, fruit-bearing is the preeminent mark of matuirity.
“Certainly the spiritual realm differs little. A mature believer bears fruit of two kinds. The first is that of character and holiness of life. The second is becoming a spiritual parent either by leading others to Christ or by adopting a baby or growing a Christian.” – Jerry White, The Power of Commitment, 130.

• Let us be about the business of growing disciples, and trust in the growth that God brings.

• Hymn 472 Near to the Heart of God


- Pastor Kerry

This Sunday: 46 in worship.

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