"[U]ntil we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13, NIV).
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48, NIV).
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Phil. 3:12, NIV).
Not that we ever attain maturity this side of glory, but we are always "works in progress" or the masterpiece of God that He isn't finished with yet. But "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6, NIV). We are never perfect, but that is the standard we aim for and our goal looking at Christ as the Exemplar, but the test is the direction we are headed in our walk with Christ--forward or backward!
There is often some sin that easily overcomes or besets us so that we stumble and don't reach the goal of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus (cf. Phil. 3:14). Hebrews 12:1 talks of setting aside our easily distracting sin so that we can press on to maturity and don't get tripped up on the way to the Celestial City. Note that it's usually the case that there's some unconfessed sin or somewhere that needs overcoming that hinders maturity--the devil gets the best of us and held us captive to a certain degree.
The writer of Hebrews mentions one sure sign of the immature or infant believer and that is that he is incapable of solid food or the meat of the Word, but feeds on the milk (cf. Heb. 5:13) or the basics such as the necessity of salvation, faith, repentance, baptism, and judgment. The immature believer balks at learning the deep things of God, having lost his taste for sound doctrine. We all must learn the basic lesson that we cannot get away with sin and God disciplines those He loves. Sad to say there are some ABC churches that never progress into the deeper truths of the Word thinking wrongly that doctrine is too arcane for the average believer.
The infant believer is totally dependent on others for his spiritual nourishment and hasn't learned to feed himself or even to see the need for it as he may go to church simply to get a lift or encouragement, and not to worship God and contribute of his spiritual gift to the body. He is basically tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (cf. Eph. 4:14) because of this naivete and not having a firm foundation of Bible doctrine to discern good and evil and false teaching from sound, biblical teaching.
Once he learns how God speaks to him and communication is achieved he has progressed in his walk and able to go on to maturity, but this vital step trips up too many believers who become spiritually dependent on one preacher as their favorite and lose discernment as if only drinking from one fountain. The mature believer discerns good and evil and can smell false doctrine when it approaches the church. The pastor should inoculate the body from heresy by preparing them for what is out there and warning that Satan seeks whom he may devour (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8).
There may be several types of attendees in the church: seekers, unbelievers, doubters, fence-sitters, contra Christians, adolescent believers, even pagans, atheists, or agnostics, besides the flock he is assigned. Just as Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep and to feed His lambs, the preacher must be sensitive to all members of the body--knowing where people are is a key to resonating or connecting with them. The prophetic message is known as comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. There are some who are at ease in Zion and have become complacent and feel they have no need of preaching because they are "mature." No one ever outgrows preaching and the preacher is even preaching to himself as well as the body!
Everyone in the body should feel they have been fed adequately to feel a part of the body and to identify with the preacher with something they can take to the bank. Just like Elijah went 40 days on one meal, sometimes a spiritual meal can have multitudinous applications and can have the ability to nourish the believer for an extended time--sometimes it's not how much one digests in the meal but how good the nourishment was and the preacher may really hit home on something that can get the ball rolling spiritually. That's why everyone in the church may feel the preacher was speaking to them personally as an individual and it related to him--a personal message from the Lord!
We must realize that we are not perfect just because we're saved and our lives speak volumes. The church is not a hotel for saints but a hospital for sinners--the requirement for membership is to admit one's a sinner and has fallen short of God's glory. No perfect people need to apply it's said! The phrase "please be patient; God isn't finished with me yet!" is the reality for everyone, not just infant or newborn believers. This ought to be every believer's slogan. We never reach perfection but that doesn't mean we don't aim for it.
People may even think we are cantankerous for being Christians, but just think how much more cantankerous we'd be without Christ in us and the Holy Spirit restraining us. When we see great sinners in our eyes we ought to utter what George Whitefield said when seeing a man going to the gallows: "There but for the grace of God, go I." We all can utter what William Jay of Bath said: "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior!" Only when we realize our sinfulness are we candidates for grace and this is the job of the preacher--to show the body its sins because we all tend to justify ourselves and put ourselves in the best possible light.
We all need to go to church regularly not only because it's commanded and the right thing to do, but we all need regular spiritual checkups or take spiritual inventory once a week or we may get off on a tangent and go our own way even into heresy or backsliding. We cannot stand still and go nowhere in the spiritual life with Christ, but we are either walking forward or backsliding--no treading water with Christ permitted! One doesn't just reject the church or turn one's back on Christ or the faith, but one slips away one small step at a time in a gradual timing that one may not notice until he may not even believe himself how far out of it he is and needs repentance.
For instance, one doesn't turn one's back on the church but misses or skips a service or two then it becomes a habit to find other things to occupy Sunday morning with than to attend church and then one believes he doesn't need church--one may even be deceived into thinking that the electronic church is a good substitute for being active in the church and fellowship just because one is getting favorable teaching from someone who doesn't offend them. Note that if the preacher never steps on any one's toes or is afraid to bring conviction on the body for its shortcomings and sins, there must be something amiss--he should realize you cannot please everyone!
There are certain plumb lines or measuring sticks to gauge maturity. The mature believer knows who he is in Christ as to his spiritual gift or how God uses him to fulfill the Great Commission in both ministries to the body and mission to the lost. You only find out your gifts by experimenting with service and the growing believer has a servants heart! This entails being discipled or mentored in the basics and has had experience in sharing his testimony and in actively witnessing for Christ, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From my experience the newborn believer has a newfound love and hunger for the Word and reads it voraciously and regularly--no one has to tell him this either because it's all-natural for a baby to feed.
It's such a joy to know and to fellowship with an infant believer--it's the adolescent ones who know enough to be dangerous and must be edified or set right before they go astray. It's a pity when the believer loses his initial love for the Lord and has fallen for the world and what it offers--there is no place for both a love of Christ and love of the world in the heart at the same time. In God's economy, the way to be filled is to be emptied, and this implies we must say "No" to self before we can say "Yes" to Christ. Sometimes we just have too much of the world in us to have any appetite for the things of God.
God has nothing against newborn believers, just that some believers tend to stay immature and don't want to grow up. Christ wants zealous believers who are all sold out for Him and serve Him with gusto and wholeheartedness. It is a joy to be with a believer who has been in the presence of God and has experienced the Lord's goodness. Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on! That's where the mature believer gets the can't-help-its or the desire to spread the Word (cf. Acts 4:20)! What God desires is those who worship in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:24)--not lip service or hypocrisy! This is natural for newborns and mature believers but those who are stunted in their growth have trouble passing muster. It's par for the course that this attitude of complacency can affect a church body and its worship become perfunctory or routine--performed as if a duty, not a pleasure!
And so our walk with Christ is by faith, not by sight according to Hab. 2:4 (the verse that awakened and roused Luther from his dogmatic slumber). We must learn not to rely on feelings though we will have them and this is a major step since fact and feeling are often confused. The divine order: fact, faith, and then feeling. We must get our thinking straightened out according to the mind of Christ and have the mind of Christ. The more aligned with sound doctrine we are the more divine our thoughts and we are to have this as a Christian worldview affecting all academic disciplines and all of life and reality.
Noah was a just man who walked with God just like Enoch and Moses are said to do--quite a resume for anyone--and we have no excuse not to do likewise because we have the indwelling Spirit. The mature believer knows how to keep short accounts with Jesus of his confessions and to stay in close fellowship with Him. He readily engages in the angelic conflict with Satan and his minions and knows the Word adequately as his offensive weapon of choice enough to fight off an attack with his shield of faith. This is why Hebrews tells us that the mature believer who is ready for the solid food knows to discern good and evil (cf. Heb. 5:14).
Finally, it would all be in vain if the believer had no love in his heart to share even if he had every gift of the Spirit. God shares His love with us and sheds it abroad in our hearts so that it overflows to others and they can see the love of Christ in action through us. Some believers never progress to this stage of maturity in learning to love and be loved--Dr. Karl Menninger, MD said that sin is the refusal of the love of others [and by application of God]. We all can become stunted if we don't find love in life and live for ourselves--selfishness is the prime sin or thinking it's all about us! Even an infant is starved for affection at times and must be hugged, knowing love by instinct. We all need to learn to reach out to others in need and realize we are here as servants on a mission to glorify God. Never lose focus of the fact that "Christianity IS Christ and all else is peripheral [or circumference]" according to John Stott (emphasis mine).
CAVEAT AND WORDS TO THE WISE: THERE ARE SOME WHO HAVE A ZEAL FOR GOD BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE (CF. ROM. 10:2; PROV. 19:2). ALSO, SOME ARE CONVERTED TO THE PROGRAM, NOT TO CHRIST AND EQUATE GOOD WORKS WITH SPIRITUALITY--THEY MUST BE DISTINGUISHED BUT NOT SEPARATED, I.E., GOOD WORKS MUST SPRING FROM HEALTHY FAITH AND SAVING FAITH MUST PRODUCE GOOD WORKS OR FRUIT! DON'T FORGET OUR MARCHING ORDERS TO KNOW GOD (IS TO LOVE GOD) AND MAKE HIM KNOWN THROUGH LOVE IN ACTION, TRANSLATING OUR CREEDS INTO DEEDS OR PUTTING OUR BELIEFS INTO ACTION--THAT'S WHERE IT'S AT AND ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST!
Let me add: Eph. 4:15, ESV, says, "Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." Soli Deo Gloria!
"Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt. 5:48, NIV).
"Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me" (Phil. 3:12, NIV).
Not that we ever attain maturity this side of glory, but we are always "works in progress" or the masterpiece of God that He isn't finished with yet. But "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6, NIV). We are never perfect, but that is the standard we aim for and our goal looking at Christ as the Exemplar, but the test is the direction we are headed in our walk with Christ--forward or backward!
There is often some sin that easily overcomes or besets us so that we stumble and don't reach the goal of the upward calling of God in Christ Jesus (cf. Phil. 3:14). Hebrews 12:1 talks of setting aside our easily distracting sin so that we can press on to maturity and don't get tripped up on the way to the Celestial City. Note that it's usually the case that there's some unconfessed sin or somewhere that needs overcoming that hinders maturity--the devil gets the best of us and held us captive to a certain degree.
The writer of Hebrews mentions one sure sign of the immature or infant believer and that is that he is incapable of solid food or the meat of the Word, but feeds on the milk (cf. Heb. 5:13) or the basics such as the necessity of salvation, faith, repentance, baptism, and judgment. The immature believer balks at learning the deep things of God, having lost his taste for sound doctrine. We all must learn the basic lesson that we cannot get away with sin and God disciplines those He loves. Sad to say there are some ABC churches that never progress into the deeper truths of the Word thinking wrongly that doctrine is too arcane for the average believer.
The infant believer is totally dependent on others for his spiritual nourishment and hasn't learned to feed himself or even to see the need for it as he may go to church simply to get a lift or encouragement, and not to worship God and contribute of his spiritual gift to the body. He is basically tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (cf. Eph. 4:14) because of this naivete and not having a firm foundation of Bible doctrine to discern good and evil and false teaching from sound, biblical teaching.
Once he learns how God speaks to him and communication is achieved he has progressed in his walk and able to go on to maturity, but this vital step trips up too many believers who become spiritually dependent on one preacher as their favorite and lose discernment as if only drinking from one fountain. The mature believer discerns good and evil and can smell false doctrine when it approaches the church. The pastor should inoculate the body from heresy by preparing them for what is out there and warning that Satan seeks whom he may devour (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8).
There may be several types of attendees in the church: seekers, unbelievers, doubters, fence-sitters, contra Christians, adolescent believers, even pagans, atheists, or agnostics, besides the flock he is assigned. Just as Jesus told Peter to feed His sheep and to feed His lambs, the preacher must be sensitive to all members of the body--knowing where people are is a key to resonating or connecting with them. The prophetic message is known as comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. There are some who are at ease in Zion and have become complacent and feel they have no need of preaching because they are "mature." No one ever outgrows preaching and the preacher is even preaching to himself as well as the body!
Everyone in the body should feel they have been fed adequately to feel a part of the body and to identify with the preacher with something they can take to the bank. Just like Elijah went 40 days on one meal, sometimes a spiritual meal can have multitudinous applications and can have the ability to nourish the believer for an extended time--sometimes it's not how much one digests in the meal but how good the nourishment was and the preacher may really hit home on something that can get the ball rolling spiritually. That's why everyone in the church may feel the preacher was speaking to them personally as an individual and it related to him--a personal message from the Lord!
We must realize that we are not perfect just because we're saved and our lives speak volumes. The church is not a hotel for saints but a hospital for sinners--the requirement for membership is to admit one's a sinner and has fallen short of God's glory. No perfect people need to apply it's said! The phrase "please be patient; God isn't finished with me yet!" is the reality for everyone, not just infant or newborn believers. This ought to be every believer's slogan. We never reach perfection but that doesn't mean we don't aim for it.
People may even think we are cantankerous for being Christians, but just think how much more cantankerous we'd be without Christ in us and the Holy Spirit restraining us. When we see great sinners in our eyes we ought to utter what George Whitefield said when seeing a man going to the gallows: "There but for the grace of God, go I." We all can utter what William Jay of Bath said: "I am a great sinner, but I have a great Savior!" Only when we realize our sinfulness are we candidates for grace and this is the job of the preacher--to show the body its sins because we all tend to justify ourselves and put ourselves in the best possible light.
We all need to go to church regularly not only because it's commanded and the right thing to do, but we all need regular spiritual checkups or take spiritual inventory once a week or we may get off on a tangent and go our own way even into heresy or backsliding. We cannot stand still and go nowhere in the spiritual life with Christ, but we are either walking forward or backsliding--no treading water with Christ permitted! One doesn't just reject the church or turn one's back on Christ or the faith, but one slips away one small step at a time in a gradual timing that one may not notice until he may not even believe himself how far out of it he is and needs repentance.
For instance, one doesn't turn one's back on the church but misses or skips a service or two then it becomes a habit to find other things to occupy Sunday morning with than to attend church and then one believes he doesn't need church--one may even be deceived into thinking that the electronic church is a good substitute for being active in the church and fellowship just because one is getting favorable teaching from someone who doesn't offend them. Note that if the preacher never steps on any one's toes or is afraid to bring conviction on the body for its shortcomings and sins, there must be something amiss--he should realize you cannot please everyone!
There are certain plumb lines or measuring sticks to gauge maturity. The mature believer knows who he is in Christ as to his spiritual gift or how God uses him to fulfill the Great Commission in both ministries to the body and mission to the lost. You only find out your gifts by experimenting with service and the growing believer has a servants heart! This entails being discipled or mentored in the basics and has had experience in sharing his testimony and in actively witnessing for Christ, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. From my experience the newborn believer has a newfound love and hunger for the Word and reads it voraciously and regularly--no one has to tell him this either because it's all-natural for a baby to feed.
It's such a joy to know and to fellowship with an infant believer--it's the adolescent ones who know enough to be dangerous and must be edified or set right before they go astray. It's a pity when the believer loses his initial love for the Lord and has fallen for the world and what it offers--there is no place for both a love of Christ and love of the world in the heart at the same time. In God's economy, the way to be filled is to be emptied, and this implies we must say "No" to self before we can say "Yes" to Christ. Sometimes we just have too much of the world in us to have any appetite for the things of God.
God has nothing against newborn believers, just that some believers tend to stay immature and don't want to grow up. Christ wants zealous believers who are all sold out for Him and serve Him with gusto and wholeheartedness. It is a joy to be with a believer who has been in the presence of God and has experienced the Lord's goodness. Once you've experienced it, you want to pass it on! That's where the mature believer gets the can't-help-its or the desire to spread the Word (cf. Acts 4:20)! What God desires is those who worship in spirit and in truth (cf. John 4:24)--not lip service or hypocrisy! This is natural for newborns and mature believers but those who are stunted in their growth have trouble passing muster. It's par for the course that this attitude of complacency can affect a church body and its worship become perfunctory or routine--performed as if a duty, not a pleasure!
And so our walk with Christ is by faith, not by sight according to Hab. 2:4 (the verse that awakened and roused Luther from his dogmatic slumber). We must learn not to rely on feelings though we will have them and this is a major step since fact and feeling are often confused. The divine order: fact, faith, and then feeling. We must get our thinking straightened out according to the mind of Christ and have the mind of Christ. The more aligned with sound doctrine we are the more divine our thoughts and we are to have this as a Christian worldview affecting all academic disciplines and all of life and reality.
Noah was a just man who walked with God just like Enoch and Moses are said to do--quite a resume for anyone--and we have no excuse not to do likewise because we have the indwelling Spirit. The mature believer knows how to keep short accounts with Jesus of his confessions and to stay in close fellowship with Him. He readily engages in the angelic conflict with Satan and his minions and knows the Word adequately as his offensive weapon of choice enough to fight off an attack with his shield of faith. This is why Hebrews tells us that the mature believer who is ready for the solid food knows to discern good and evil (cf. Heb. 5:14).
Finally, it would all be in vain if the believer had no love in his heart to share even if he had every gift of the Spirit. God shares His love with us and sheds it abroad in our hearts so that it overflows to others and they can see the love of Christ in action through us. Some believers never progress to this stage of maturity in learning to love and be loved--Dr. Karl Menninger, MD said that sin is the refusal of the love of others [and by application of God]. We all can become stunted if we don't find love in life and live for ourselves--selfishness is the prime sin or thinking it's all about us! Even an infant is starved for affection at times and must be hugged, knowing love by instinct. We all need to learn to reach out to others in need and realize we are here as servants on a mission to glorify God. Never lose focus of the fact that "Christianity IS Christ and all else is peripheral [or circumference]" according to John Stott (emphasis mine).
CAVEAT AND WORDS TO THE WISE: THERE ARE SOME WHO HAVE A ZEAL FOR GOD BUT NOT ACCORDING TO KNOWLEDGE (CF. ROM. 10:2; PROV. 19:2). ALSO, SOME ARE CONVERTED TO THE PROGRAM, NOT TO CHRIST AND EQUATE GOOD WORKS WITH SPIRITUALITY--THEY MUST BE DISTINGUISHED BUT NOT SEPARATED, I.E., GOOD WORKS MUST SPRING FROM HEALTHY FAITH AND SAVING FAITH MUST PRODUCE GOOD WORKS OR FRUIT! DON'T FORGET OUR MARCHING ORDERS TO KNOW GOD (IS TO LOVE GOD) AND MAKE HIM KNOWN THROUGH LOVE IN ACTION, TRANSLATING OUR CREEDS INTO DEEDS OR PUTTING OUR BELIEFS INTO ACTION--THAT'S WHERE IT'S AT AND ETERNAL LIFE IN CHRIST!
Let me add: Eph. 4:15, ESV, says, "Speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ." Soli Deo Gloria!
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