Lesson for February 12, 2023
The Victorious Christian Way of Life
Lesson 7
The Lifestyle of Wisdom
The third stage of spiritual adulthood is spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is characterized by total dependence upon God and His Word. This means being able to pass the tests of life which come in the form of people testing, system testing, thought testing, and disaster testing. Spiritually mature believers can face any problem in life with inner happiness. There is no tragedy, disaster, difficulty, or heartache that can overcome the spiritual self-confidence of a spiritually mature believer. Spiritual maturity means the elimination of false applications in your life, such as comparing yourself with others. In spiritual maturity, believers live their own life for the Lord, rather than for other people.
Believers in spiritual maturity take responsibility for their own decisions (good or bad). They also take responsibility for others under their authority but do so without seeking to control and interfere in their lives. Therefore, a spiritually mature believer is motivated without being possessive or lusting for power. A believer in spiritual maturity is not possessive of those whom he loves, thus avoiding the pitfall of jealousy. A spiritually mature believer concentrates on their relationship with God, over their relationship with people. (Philippians 3:15-16)
A spiritually mature believer has a maximum personal sense of destiny. No matter what happens in life, they understand the fact that God has a purpose for their life. They understand that purpose, apply it to all situations, and maintain their happiness. Therefore, a spiritually mature believer recognizes that they are fulfilling their purpose and destiny in life by living God’s plan for them.
Maximum production in Christian service is a characteristic of a spiritually mature believer. Maximum divine production means maximum use of your spiritual gift, whatever it is. It means maximum effectiveness in Christian service so that you will have gold, silver, and precious stones at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
(I Corinthians 3:10-15) Maximum production means living your life as unto the Lord and not by the standards of Satan’s world system.
Spiritual maturity develops fantastic common sense and a marvelous sense of humor. A spiritually mature believer is never envious of those whose abilities are greater than theirs or whose success is greater than theirs. Therefore, spiritual maturity wipes out all of the frustrations of life that could be caused by not succeeding as you or others think you should. Your destiny as a believer is far superior to any success that can be achieved in this life!
In spiritual maturity, a new type of spiritual freedom exists, which has never existed before in any other dispensation. This spiritual freedom is available to all believers who reside inside God’s power system, the Divine Dynasphere under the filling of the Holy Spirit. And this spiritual freedom can exist with or without human freedom. When you are functioning within God’s power system (filled with the Holy Spirit) you have spiritual freedom. Spiritual freedom means you have been freed from living life with the guilt and the fear that accompany any system of legalism, like religion. Spiritual freedom means you can have a relaxed mental attitude, regardless of circumstances. Someone might take your personal freedom from you, but they can never take your spiritual freedom from you!!
Eternal rewards for spiritually mature believers are blessings based on the grace of God and their response to God’s instructions to grow in grace. God in His grace gives all believers everything they need to attain these rewards, but not all believers will take advantage of the opportunity.
The writers of Scripture were very familiar with the Roman system of rewards for both the military and for athletic competition and used them to illustrate eternal rewards. For winners of athletic competition, wreaths worn on their head like a crown or medals worn on their uniforms were presented to them. Both carried immense honor and wealth. Some winners were given land, some were made rulers over cities or estates, some received cash, but all were exempt from paying income taxes for life. Some believers will be given similar rewards in Heaven:
- Rulership of cities – this reward is given to all believers who faithfully fulfill God’s plan by advancing in their Christian lives, consistently learning accurately taught Bible doctrine, and making the correct application of it. (Luke 19:17; II Timothy 2:12; Revelation 5:10)
- Crown of Righteousness – this reward is for all believers who attain spiritual maturity, thus fulfilling the potential established at salvation. In other words, they are making their experience align with their position in Christ. (II Timothy 4:7-8)
- Crown of Life – this reward is for all believers who pass the test of undeserved suffering. This crown is attained by applying Bible doctrine to your experience while in the midst of suffering. (James 1:12; Revelation 2:10)
- Crown of Joy – this is a reward for all believers who consistently share the Gospel with others. (Philippians 4:1; I Thessalonians 2:19-20)
- Crown of Glory – this reward is for those believers with the gift of pastor-teacher who faithfully fulfill their gift by teaching accurate Bible doctrine. (I Peter 5:4)
- The Winner’s Crown – this reward is for those who exercise self-discipline, diligence, and persistence over a long period of time to consistently learn and properly apply accurate Bible doctrine. (II Timothy 2:5; I Corinthians 9:24-27)
The greatest impact in the last 2000 years, and an impact that will continue until the Rapture of the Church, comes from spiritually mature believers. God has designed a system whereby the invisible impact from spiritually mature believers is greater than any visible impact from any other source.
The Application of the Lifestyle of Wisdom
The Lifestyle of Wisdom eliminates constant failure in life, by consistently living inside the Divine Dynasphere. In order to consistently live in the Divine Dynasphere, a believer must know how to recognize when they’re out of fellowship with God, and how to return to fellowship using the Rebound Technique. Living a lifestyle of wisdom demands that we always know where we are spiritually. When we know how to handle our failures, they can be converted into victories through the grace of God. (I Corinthians 11:31)
The Lifestyle of Wisdom cannot be executed through human viewpoint thinking, human viewpoint counseling, human coercion, or the influence of another person. The royal priest is designed to walk on his own. The Lifestyle of Wisdom is designed for you to have the necessary resources in your own soul from Bible doctrine to handle and solve problems and enjoy the blessings of life, without the help of others who have no knowledge of accurate doctrine.
The privacy of the Royal Priesthood assures that a believer with positive volition toward doctrine is able to learn without coercion from anyone. It allows a believer to take full control of their own spiritual life and solve their own problems in life.
Every royal priest must advance in the spiritual life based on the content of Bible doctrine in their own soul. Every believer must learn to master the Problem-Solving Devices because every believer can solve their own problems inside the Divine Dynasphere. A believer must learn to use the tools and equipment in their own soul to fulfill God’s plan for their life and become spiritually self-sustaining.
Spiritual maturity is characterized by “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)