Maturity: Chapter Two

Symptoms of Decay

We discussed last week the need for maturity. We discussed some of the blessings of maturity and some of the dangers of immaturity.

Ferguson’s book is organized in a specific way:

Ferguson’s first three chapters, part one called “Growing Up” present the basics (or foundations) of the Christian life

The second part “Standing Firm” addresses some advanced doctrines such as assurance of faith and God’s leading in our daily lives

The third part, “Facing Difficulties” moves on to more intense doctrines such as fighting sigh, dealing with the devil, and suffering in the Christian’s life

The fourth part focuses on perseverance and longevity in the Christian life

The firth part summarizes everything discussed in its relation to “maturity”

So, moving on from the importance and biblical necessity of maturity, we come to chapter 2, “Symptoms of Decay.”

Decay is defined this way, “to become gradually damaged, worse, or less.”

We know in the human body decay can make one uncomfortable but can also lead to death.

For example, tooth pain can indicate decay through a cavity. Shoulder pain can indicate that the tendons have decayed and they need repair.

Likewise, spiritually speaking, there are indicators of decay. These “symptoms of decay” are not meant to be prosecuting attorneys seeking the heaviest judgments on us.

No, as Ferguson writes, these symptoms “will help us to assess where we are spiritually.” (20) That is, they can be helpful tools to diagnose our hearts to determine whether we are or not, mature.

The book of Hebrews is the major focus of chapter 2, and rightly so. Ferguson calls it “the Epistle of Warning.” (19) There are many warnings listed in Hebrews, but four in particular are discussed.

Concentration Loss (20–23)

“The disease diagnosed here is a failure in concentration, an inability to fix the heart and mind on Christ and to make him the chief object of devotion and attention.” (20)

Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Drift away, as Ferguson notes, is a nautical term that refers to a boat that is not anchored to the dock or with an anchor in the ocean. The boat simply drifts away, it is at Ferguson says “at the mercy of the tide.”

He goes on to say, “the currents of the world will guarantee our departure from the moorings of the gospel unless we are anchored to our Savior.” (20)

What can contribute to our lack of concentration?

Notice there is a need for activity and a warning against passivity.

William Gouge’s quote (20–21)

“That is a comprehensive summary of the concentration that the Christian life demands. Ability to focus our gaze, fill our minds, and devote our hearts to Jesus Christ is a basic element in real Christian growth. Inability to do so is a sign of immaturity.” (21)

How can we discern a lack of concentration?

Hebrews 12:2–3 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.”

Poor Appetite (23–25)

Hebrews 5:12–14 “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

The Scriptures use the physical difference between infants and adults and their respective diets. You cannot expect a newborn to eat solid food; likewise you expect adults to eat more than just baby food and milk.

So it is in the spiritual realm. There are people who cannot stomach deeper doctrine (i.e., solid food). But there are some who could but do not, perhaps because they have a poor appetite.

They were spiritually immature, as we just read in Heb. 5:12–14, and could not stomach deeper doctrines of Scripture.

Two Causes of Poor Appetite

First Cause: indulging in things that do not edify

We would not expect an individual to grow strong and be healthy if all the individual ate was strawberry cake and ice cream. Strawberry cake and ice cream are not wrong in and of themselves, but an over indulgence would be.

“Their mistake was not that what they spent their time doing was wrong, but in allowing it to become a staple element in their diet.” (23)

What are some things we do that are not wrong but could become so through over indulgence?

“The person whose only focus is ‘there is nothing wrong with it’ will remain self-centered, living according to the principles of the flesh.” (24)

Second Cause: indwelling sin

Hebrews 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,”

Discernment Deficit

Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

I like Ferguson’s definition of spiritual discernment.

“Spiritual discernment involves the ability to distinguish the good from the bad, the better from the best, the important from the insignificant, the permanent from the transient.” (25)

Discernment between Good and Evil

Discernment between “what is comparatively harmless and what is positively valuable”

“Our lives are shaped in part by our ability to persevere in the importance but unspectacular exercises that build Christian character—he ministry and study of the word, worship and fellowship, prayer, and serving the Lord day by day in all the ordinariness of life.” Sinclair Ferguson

Worship Weakness

Hebrews 12:12 “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees,”

Hebrews 12:28–29 “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.”

How can we identify “worship weaknesses” in our lives?

“Maturity, he [Paul] contended, was not to be measured by their gifts but by their desire for the presence and power of God.” (28)

“Paul’s whole argument proceeds on the presupposition that the first, the best, and the most important concern of the church is to worship the triune God, and to experience the sense of his presence enthroned on the praises of his people (Ps. 22:3).” (29)