Early this year I was asking the Lord in
prayer for his guidance for me and for the Church in 2013; I felt the Lord
speaking to me one word; “Maturity” as I read Ephesians 4:11-16. I shared this
in our Wednesday prayer meeting since then our prayer has been that we all both
individually and collectively would grow up and become mature in all aspects.
Let me illustrate; as a parent if
you want your young children to grow up physically strong and healthy, what
would you feed them on a daily basis? Would you feed them junk food; soda and
energy drinks? No! They may look and taste good but in the long run are harmful
to their over all growth. On the other hand giving them a well balanced diet of
vegetables, fruit, milk and meat makes them grow strong and healthy and become
matured.
Similarly; if you want to grow up
spiritually and become mature in your faith you can not simply hear sermons
prepared for TV and You Tube audience or keep attending specialized conferences.
No doubt that they are exciting; encouraging and challenging. They may give you
a needed boost for some time like the “Five Hour Energy drink” does; but sooner
than later that excitement wanes and you look for the next exciting thing.
On the contrary if you learn to
feed yourselves on a balanced diet of the whole truth of God’s word, apply and
act according to it you will grow up in all aspects of life. You will have a
well balanced; fulfilling and productive life. As your pastor I am also in one
way your spiritual father. Therefore I have a moral obligation to this church.
Let me make one thing very clear I am committed to bring you nothing but the
whole truth of God’s word. I am not interested in “quick fixes neither do I
tolerate extreme theology. I try my best to give you a well balanced spiritual
diet but it is up to you to feed on it.
Let’s turn to Eph 4:11-16 which
talks about Growing Up or
becoming matured. How do we define maturity? The dictionary definition of maturity
is: “The state of being mature; full
development; perfected condition.” In Greek the word for maturity is “teleios” it occurs 19 times in the NT
which means an adult, full grown, of full age as opposite to children. Paul was
presenting here the image of fully competed growth as contrast to infancy and
childhood.
As Christians our goal is not
perfection but maturity, God’s perfection is absolute; man’s is relative; we
can never attain 100% perfection of God. Therefore our aim should be godliness
so that our lives clearly reflect the nature and character of God. How do we
differentiate immaturity from maturity?
IMMATURITY Vs
MATURITY:
The Apostle Paul gives us a few
pointers to help us identify immaturity and work towards maturity. Ephesians
4:14-15, “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and
craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead speaking the truth in love; we will in all things
grow up into him who is the head; that is Christ.”
In Vs 14 we read about infants;
false teachers and cunning and crafty men.
Paul exhorts the Ephesians no longer to be infants; but to
grow up. Could it be that at the time of writing this epistle some of the Ephesian
believers must have been acting like kids and adolescents instead of behaving
like grown up adults? What are children
like? Those of us who have raised
children know that children are so cute; we love and adore them but they are
also highly manipulative and at times messy. It is our job as parents to care
for them and train them in the way they should go.
If we train them well they grow up
to be matured adults; but if we pamper them and fail to discipline them when
necessary; they may grow up physically yet remain like infants and immature. Even
in the Church we find spiritual infants, Pete Scazzero in his book “Emotionally
Healthy Spirituality” shares how to identify spiritual infants and children: “They
look for others to take care of them. Have great difficulty entering into the
world of others. They are driven by need for instant gratification. Use others
as objects to meet their needs. Are happy as long as they get what they want,
but complain, withdraw, manipulate, take revenge, and become sarcastic when
they don’t get their way.”[1]
How does
the bible address this spiritual infancy? 1 Cor 3:1 “Brothers and sisters, I could not
address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still
worldly—mere infants in Christ.” I
Cor 14:20, “Brothers and sisters stop thinking like children. In
regard to evil be infants but in you thinking be adults. Peter said, "Like newborn babies, crave
pure spiritual milk so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.” I Peter 2:2.
Spiritual infancy is only
encouraged and tolerated in two areas: “in avoiding evil” and craving more for
spiritual milk (God’s word), but in every other way we are expected to grow up.
II Peter 3:18 "Grow in
the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." I Cor 13:11 “When I was a child,
I talked like a child; I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” The second pointer to identify immaturity is false teachers, as well as those who gullibly take in anything
that comes on their way. These days many
false teachers are confusing believers with wrong and extreme theologies.
False teachings are being flooded
through TV, Radio; literature; the internet and even through the pulpit. Many
Christians without discerning are being tossed back and forth by every wind of
doctrine. The Bible warns us about false teachers.
How do we
identify them? 2 Peter 2:1-3, “But there were
also false prophets among the people, just as there will
be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce
destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them bringing
swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will
bring they way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will
exploit you with stories they have made up.”
When it
comes to listening to the faith stories of others we got to be very careful.
However genuine those stories may be, what worked for them may not necessarily
work for you; just like a prescription drug. Each of us are at different levels
in our faith. Moreover we can not make doctrines out of our personal
experiences. If you shape your theology only by watching TV preachers and You
tube videos there is a potential danger that you may get it wrong. It is your
responsibility to test every spirit and interpret scripture in light of other
scriptures then you will get the whole truth on any subject.
The third
pointer that Paul mentions to identify immaturity is the cunning, crafty
and scheming. They are skilful manipulators; through their craftiness and
scheming deceives the innocent and new believers. They may look overly
spiritual and humble on the outside but on the inside they are like ravenous
wolves. We all may have at one point or the other become victims to such people
or we ourselves have been cunning and crafty. Either way that is a sure sign of
immaturity. Manipulators are also very divisive. In Titus 3:10, “if people are
causing divisions among you give a first and second warning. After that have
nothing more to do with them.”
We have talked enough about immaturity,
let’s focus on maturity. God used Paul to give
us a different measure for maturity of the church. Paul says that the church is
mature when it functions like one body, where Jesus Christ is the Head.
When our kids were a few months old,
we could see their eyes wanting to reach for a toy, but their hands and arms
were not yet able to cooperate. As they grew up, their body parts began to do
what their “head" wanted them to do. Likewise, when we mature or grow up
as a church, we individually obey what our "head," Jesus Christ,
wants us to do. The Church is not obedient to a set of rules. We are obedient
to the Person of Jesus Christ through a trusting relationship and to the truths
He has spoken. And our obedience is not just in our head, but in the way we
live and serve one another. That is what pleases God more than just having head
knowledge.
What does a matured Christian look
like? Matured Christians are a joy to be around with. They don’t use
manipulation and control in order to get their way instead they have learned to
speak the truth in love. They will make sure that they are growing up in all
aspects; personal; marital; family; work; and spiritual life. They don’t find
the need to correct and put every body in place instead they will have a sober
judgment of themselves and work on their own faults rather than picking the faults
in others. They recognize that Christ is the head of the Church and they are
merely members of his body. They learn to obey the teachings of Christ found in
the Scriptures. They respect the views of other members of the body without
superimposing their own. They learn to work together as a team instead of competing
with one another. They are committed to the building up of the Church rather
than tearing it down.
In closing let’s ask ourselves am I
a mature Christian or an Immature Christian? Let’s also ask the Lord to show us
areas where we have some growing up to do. My
prayer is that “we all would reach unity in the faith and in the
knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, so that our work is produced by
faith and our labor is prompted by love and our endurance is inspired by hope
in our Lord Jesus Christ and that is the true sign of a truly matured Church.
(I Thes 1:3) Amen
