You are on page 1of 3

From

Here
There
to

The Path to Spiritual Maturity

Benjamin Franklin quipped that most men die from the neck up by
the age of 25 because they stop dreaming. Spiritual maturity is somewhat like that. Some Christians never reach their full potential because they stop growing soon after committing their life to Christ.
Scripture addresses those that should
be further along the spiritual journey
but still crave milk instead of solid
food (Hebrews 5:12). How do babes
in Christ mature into fully functioning
adults? The answer is found in a proper
understanding of what it means to be
spiritually mature.

The Paradox of Maturity


Spiritual maturity is not automatic and
it is not predicated on the years of ones
life. There are Christians who have
been around the things of God most of
their life but have not been transformed
by the power of God. They associate
the physical aging process with growing up in the Lord, but Scripture makes
no such association.

By
Ryan Mason

30 | From Here to There The Path to Spiritual Maturity

It is a paradox of sorts that a person


can spend years attending church and
reading the Bible without moving further along the path of spiritual maturity. That is because Christianity is much
more than mere religion. As J. Oswald
Sanders noted in his book In Pursuit of
Ministry, gathering biblical information holds great value, but it is only
when the principles of Scripture are applied in daily obedience that spiritual
growth takes place.

The Christian is only as mature as he


or she is like Christ. Is the fruit of the
Spirit increasingly evident in the life of
the believer? Are the nature and deeds
of Christ being exhibited in the interaction with others? (See 2 Corinthians
3:18.)
Christians sometimes request their spiritual leaders to take them deeper. The
person making such a request often
means he wants more biblical content.
It is true that Scripture is like a well
that allows a person to drink from deep
places. Charles Spurgeon described the
gospel of John as, "Shallow enough for
a child to wade in and deep enough to
drown an elephant."
However, deep biblical content is not
enough to make a person mature. Jesus
made it clear that if we love Him we
will follow His commandments (John
14:15). James boldly exhorted Christians to not just be hearers of the Word,
but doers of the Word as well (James
1:22).

A Deeper Walk

Growing into the likeness of Christ


must involve living for Him and not just
knowing about Him. Spiritual progress
hinges on obedience to the commands
of Christ. Pursuing the deep things of
the faith can become so consuming that
the essential commands of the faith are
neglected.

The litmus test for spiritual maturity


is growing more and more like Jesus.

Going deeper as a Christian takes on


new meaning when the filter of obeJune, July, August 2015 | 31

dience is applied. Spiritual maturity


requires a lifestyle of obedience to the
clear commands of Scripture as we follow in the footsteps of the Lord.

Follow Me
Jesus paired the invitation to discipleship with the call to follow Him. He
beckoned His disciples to take up their
cross daily and follow Him (Luke
9:23). The road to spiritual maturity
begins with this first step.
This is evident as Jesus began His earthly ministry. He asked two fishermen,
Simon and Andrew, to leave behind everything that was familiar and follow
Him. They responded by walking away
from their livelihood and immediately
following Jesus (Matthew 4:18-20).
Spiritual maturity begins with accepting the call to genuine discipleship. A
disciple is much more than just a student. The title describes someone who
is fully committed to the teachings of
another; a follower. Jesus said, So
therefore, any one of you who does not
renounce all that he has cannot be my
disciple (Luke 14:33).
Jesus never used the term Christian
to describe His followers. The name
Christian was likely invented by those

outside the church and intended as


a derogatory term (Acts 13:26). The
early believers eventually embraced the
name but preferred to think of themselves as disciples (verse 52).
Spiritual maturity is not automatic and
it is not instantaneous. A disciple does
not become mature all at once. It happens over time as an intentional, and
sometimes painful, effort is made to
follow the Master. It involves Gods
grace and an individuals will surrendered to the lordship of Christ.

You Are Here


Large venues understand how easy it
is for people to become lost. Airports,
malls, and concert halls will almost always have highly visible signage to help
guests find their way. Maps are available throughout these facilities and
show the overall building layout with
a big star that reads, You are here!
It is easy to determine a starting location and visually map out a path to the
desired destination.
Spiritual maturity does not come with
a big star and a map because everyone
starts at different places in their journey.
However, the destination of every disciple is the same. It is fullness of Christ.
Paul examined this topic in Ephesians 4

Growing into the likeness of Christ


must involve living for Him
and not just knowing about Him.

32 | From Here to There The Path to Spiritual Maturity

when he spoke about unity in the body


of Christ. Although the starting point is
different for each person, our goal is to
reach unity in the faith, growing in maturity and Christlikeness as the body of
Christ builds itself up in love.
The important thing is for people to
get moving regardless of where they
think they are in their spiritual progress. It serves little purpose to compare
one persons maturity level to another.
Besides, spiritual maturity is largely a
matter of the heart. Someone has stated
that it does not serve the believer well
to compare his beginning to someone
elses middle. Focus on Jesus and take
the next step toward Him.

Spiritual On-Ramps
People intent on growing in their relationship with Christ will begin their
journey at different places much like interstate on-ramps. Some disciples will
experience a greater degree of maturity
in a shorter period of time due to Gods
supernatural enabling, life experiences,
or commitment to the faith. The destination of spiritual maturity is the same
for every disciple but the journey is
unique and personal.
Ultimately, spiritual maturity is a gift
from God. The good news is that believers are given everything needed
to make the journey. As Peter wrote,
Gods divine power has given us all
things that pertain to life and godliness
(2 Peter 1:3).
How do we leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity

(Hebrews 6:1)? There is no magic formula but maturity necessitates things


like consistency and perseverance in
making choices that bring us closer
to God. These choices are like stones
along a path that lead in a preferred direction or mile markers along the road
that signify a right course. These markers include spiritual disciplines like Bible reading, prayer, mentoring relationships, service, and stewardship. A heart
surrendered to God and a disciplined
lifestyle will yield much spiritual fruit
for the believer.

Personal Holiness
A disciple that desires to become godly
must develop godly habits. The call
is to follow Jesus. The apostle Paul
cautioned that we should not be conformed to this current age, but should
be transformed by the renewal of our
mind (Romans 12:2).
Personal holiness has never had mass
appeal but it is non-negotiable for a
follower of Christ. The word holiness
means to be set apart or distinct
from the world. It means to follow
Gods standards rather than blending
in with the world. Peter strongly admonished believers in this area when
he called on his readers to avoid conforming to the passions of their former
ignorance. He wanted his listeners to be
holy in their conduct and to model their
holiness after Christ (1 Peter 1:14-16).
The issue is further complicated today
because we have fewer godly examples
to emulate. Young adults often come

June, July, August 2015 | 33

from broken homes where biblical role


models were not present. They desire a
godly lifestyle but are not certain where
to begin. Celebrities and pop icons perpetuate the dangerous idea that an immoral lifestyle is cool. Movies glamorize sin and portray it as an indicator of
success. What has happened to personal holiness?
The consummate example of holiness
is Jesus, but disciples today are also
starving for a modern-day earthly role
model like the apostle Paul who encouraged, Be imitators of me, as I am
of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1). Spiritual progress is about taking the first
step toward Jesus and then continuing
to journey with Him by following in
His footsteps. His way always comes
with a call to holiness. This includes the
cost of being different from the world
but brings an ordered life anchored by
the Word of God. The journey toward
spiritual maturity is unique for each
disciple but the pursuit of holiness cannot be escaped.

Not in This Life

hind and straining forward to what


lies ahead, I press on toward the
goal for the prize of the upward call
of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians
3:12-14).
There will come a day when the Christian will be made complete in Christ.
Until then, there is progress to be made.
This progress is marked by at least
these characteristics:

A heart surrendered to God

Commitment to follow Jesus

Obedience to the essentials


of Christianity

Desire to keep growing

Pursuit of personal holiness

Release from the burden of


perfection in this life

Beloved, we are God's children now,


and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he
appears we shall be like him, because
we shall see him as he is. And everyone
who thus hopes in him purifies himself
as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3

A disciple can experience radical transformation as he devotes himself to


growing in Christlikeness but total maturity will never happen in this life. The
apostle Paul understood this and hoped
his friends would grasp it as well.
Not that I have already obtained
this or am already perfect, but I
press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his
own. Brothers, I do not consider
that I have made it my own. But one
thing I do: forgetting what lies be-

34 | From Here to There The Path to Spiritual Maturity

Ryan Mason serves


as Associate Pastor
of Discipleship at
Hillcrest Baptist
Church in Dallas,
Texas and loves
to write about real
life issues and help others apply
biblical truths to daily living. He
is married to Kilie and they are
blessed with two amazing children.
Connect with Ryan on Twitter
@ryankmason.

I WAS TEACHING A LESSON ON WHAT YOUR EYES


SHOULD AND SHOULD NOT SEE. As an Introduction to the

lesson, I read several verses of Scripture dealing with our eyes and
what we should not allow ourselves to see (like these):
* Wicked ThingsPsalm 101:3 (I will set nothing wicked before
my eyes.)
* Worthless ThingsPsalm 119:37 (Turn away my eyes from
looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.)
* The Opposite Sex for the Purpose of LustingMatthew 5:28
(But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for
her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.)
And, Job 31:1 (I have made a covenant with my eyes; Why
then should I look upon a young woman?)
Then I said, As we can tell from these verses, it is obvious that
there are things that the Lord doesnt want our eyes to see, and
were going to take a look at them tonight!
-Curt Gwartney
We are looking for funny and true
church-related contributions to
include in @Church.

Have something you would like to share?


Send it via email to fusion@D6family.com or snail-mail it to
FUSION Magazine, 114 Bush Road, Nashville, TN 37217.
June, July, August 2015 | 35

You might also like