Maturity in the Life of the Believer

What is Maturity

The story is told that Andrew Jackson’s boyhood friends just couldn’t understand how he became a famous general and then the President of the United States. They knew of other men who had greater talent but who never succeeded. One of Jackson’s friends said, “Why, Jim Brown, who lived right down the pike from Jackson, was not only smarter but he could throw Andy three times out of four in a wrestling match. But look where Andy is now.”

Another friend responded, “How did there happen to be a fourth time? Didn’t they usually say three times and out?”

“Sure, they were supposed to, but not Andy. He would never admit he was beat—he would never stay ‘throwed.’ Jim Brown would get tired, and on the fourth try Andrew Jackson would throw him and be the winner.”

Picking up on that idea, someone has said, “The thing that counts is not how many times you are ‘throwed,’ but whether you are willing to stay ‘throwed.’”

What is Maturity? According to Websters 1828 dictionary Maturity is listed as this:

1. Ripe; perfected by time or natural growth; as a man of mature age. We apply it to a young man of mature age. We apply it to a young man who has arrived to the age when he is supposed to be competent to manage his own concerns; to a young woman who is fit to be married; and to elderly men who have much experience. (Websters 1828 Dictionary)

We have talked about perseverance, and we have talked about peace, but we want to bring both together in a topic that is of utmost importance to all believers. The topic of maturity and of spiritual maturity.

There are many thoughts and misconceptions on what maturity is. In a worldly sense it may be looked at as old enough to get a job, to get married, to move away from your parents’ house, able to afford your own bills and purchases. How many do we know that can achieve this to some form though and we would still say they are immature or have not yet grown up. In our men’s group we have talked about this concept of a man child. Someone who is an adult by age but still acts like they are a teenager and lives their life with no thought for anyone except themself. Men especially are called to be leaders in their homes for both their children and their spouses.

Spiritual Maturity can go even deeper. Many times, it is approached from the aspect of discipleship and while this is an important aspect of spiritual maturity it is something that many of us don’t truly understand. Carey Nieuwhof says this about discipleship.

Discipleship is an organic, life-long process. It has something to do with what the ancients called “sanctification”. The process of becoming more and more holy, a term, which stripped from it’s strangeness, simply means to be ‘set apart’. Basically, it means you’re different than you were. And that process continues until you die. (Carey Nieuwhof)

To be spiritually mature we should be working towards spiritual sanctification. We should be becoming more and more like Christ in our everyday lives and attempting to be set apart from the world. Men, this means you lead your family spiritually. You should be the first in your family in worship, in prayer, in study of scripture. You are called to lead your spouse and your children in relationship with God and this charge falls heavy on your head. If your wife is the one that would be seen as the spiritual leader in your home, then it’s time for you to step up and man up. Lead your family in prayer, lead them in studying scripture, be the first to worship at church. This is an important part of spiritual maturity that we tend to ignore. Even back in the garden of Eden it can be asked, who’s sin was greater, Eve or Adam? All the time we want to blame Eve but Adam was standing there with her the entire time and did nothing to stop her from taking the fruit from the serpent. (Genesis 3:6 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.) This is one of the ways that perseverance and peace come into the umbrella of spiritual maturity as we strive for sanctification in Christ.

We are told many times throughout scripture of the peace of God. This is a supernatural peace that we see evident in the lives of the 1st century church. This peace says that no matter what may come against me I will be content in God. As the early church martyrs were beaten, tortured, burned alive, fed to lions, and even crucified we see time and again them praising God throughout this process. Even as Stephen, the first martyr mentioned in the New Testament, was being stoned for proclaiming Christ, scripture tells us

58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:58-60)

Earlier in chapter 6 it says that Stephen’s accusers could not withstand the wisdom and Spirit with which he was speaking. Stephen showed spiritual maturity that He was able in the face of death to not only remain steadfast and share the Gospel of Jesus but that during his death He did not curse the people that were stoning him but instead cried out to God to receive his spirit and prayed for God to not hold the sin of his death against those committing it.

Verse 58 says the garments were laid at the foot of a young man named Saul. This could even be seen as the beginning of discipleship for the apostle that would be called Paul and would become one of the greatest known authors of the New Testament. When Paul had his experience on the Damascus road and throughout his own tortures, imprisonments, and ultimate death, he could look back at this early martyr, of whose death he was a part, and see a true example of spiritual maturity.

This is another amazing thing about God’s grace and mercy towards those who He has called to Himself. I have seen the quote and it is a perfect example of Christian maturity, that when Paul entered heaven at the end of his life, he entered to the cheers of the very Christians that he had martyred. That is the Gospel and that is how the Gospel works.

How do we miss this point so greatly in our culture? We take the old testament law of an eye for an eye and go even further that we have to be proactive before someone wrongs us and then when we are wronged our reaction is one of offense and revenge. Here is another opportunity to display spiritual maturity. We must persevere in the faith, and this means showing the same mercy and grace that has been given to us by God to everyone that may wrong us or hurt us.

That’s a hard pill to swallow. We want to feel justified in our indignation at being wronged but Christ tells us in

Matthew 5 that if a man asks for your coat you should give him your cover as well. If someone asks you to go with him one mile you should go two. This related to Roman law at the time. A Roman soldier could force a Jewish subject to carry whatever they were moving whether their armor, or food, or whatever for one mile and the person was legally required to. This was a sore injustice that helped Rome show the burden and rule they held over others. Yet Jesus said don’t just go one mile but go ahead and go two miles for them.

Again, Jesus tells the parable in Matthew 18of the unforgiving servant that owed a great debt to the king. The king brought him to be jailed and the servant begged for mercy as he could never repay the debt. The king granted forgiveness of this debt and released the servant. Immediately the servant goes and finds someone that owes them a very minimal debt and demands immediate payment or else he will have the entire family thrown in jail. The king hears about this and recalls the servant and has him delivered to jail until he can pay his debt. Just as God shows us mercy we should show others mercy.

So what is the difference between mature and immature spiritually?

1 Corinthians 13:11says; When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways.

and

1 Corinthians 14:20 says; Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

We are called to put away childish things and to be mature in the way we think and approach all things. This goes back to that concept of a man child we talked about earlier. If your life consists of coming home and dropping down on a sofa and playing video games or watching TV, or going out and playing sports or hanging with the guys all the time, and you never help your spouse around the house, you never spend time with them, you never pray with them and pray over your children, you never lead your family in scripture, then you are exhibiting the childish ways of the man child. Everything is about you and your wants and needs while we are called to lay aside our own needs.

If you are married this is loving your wife as Christ loved the church. We like to focus on the fact the wife is to submit in the marriage, but we ignore the fact that if the husband is loving like Christ and is acting as a mature man and not a child, then a wife’s submission is one of great joy. It means that you look out for her needs and her desires before ever thinking of your own.

Hebrews 5:11

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. 12 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, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. 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.

6 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity,

If we are spiritually immature, then we are not partaking of the fullness that God desires for each of us. Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:15 to study to show himself approved; a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed. You should be in your Bible. You should be in studies and devotions to grow your faith. You should be reading the books written by the men of God that have gone before us throughout church history and have spent their entire lives in service and study of God’s Word. You need to get involved in men’s group, women’s group, bible study. These are not just community opportunities, but these are opportunities to study and grow in the Word of God. I am part of a 6-month men’s study currently that is called Tribe. It is a group of 100 men from 5 continents coming together to study the word of God, to openly ask questions and be vulnerable on things we struggle with. This is studying to show yourself approved. Every single man in this group is wanting to grow as spiritual leaders and be able to lead their families as God has called them to. Proverbs 27:17 says; 17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. If you are not participating in these groups, if you are not allowing yourself these opportunities then you will miss out on the opportunity to be sharpened and to grow in spiritual maturity and relationship with Christ.

Ephesians 4:13

until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood,5 to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Philippians 3:13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

We must not be tossed about by doctrines of men and things that turn us from the truth of Scripture. This is being seen in the current progressive Christianity movement. We see churches and people that claim to be Christians but believe nothing that falls in line with what the Bible teaches. If you do not have a firm foundation in doctrine then it is easy for what is being taught to deceive you and cause you to fall into doctrine that is not of God. It is easy to be tossed around from thought to thought never bringing ourselves under submission to Christ. We must press forward. We don’t look behind at our past mistakes, except to give glory to God for delivering us. We don’t look back at our past friends that led us away from God, except to pray for them and their salvation. We look forward to what God has for us. Maturity means we press towards the goal of God found in the gospel. Jesus is the Gospel. He is our goal and He is our prize.

We have to understand what A.W. Pink wrote;

“Contentment is possible only as we cultivate and maintain that attitude of accepting everything which enters our lives as coming from the hand of Him who is too wise to err, and too loving to cause one of His children a needless tear.” (A.W. Pink)

Those who make initial confessions of their desire to follow Jesus Christ, but refuse to accept hardship or persecution, are characterized as the false, fruitless souls who are like rocky soil with no depth. They wither and die under the threat of reproach of Christ (Matthew 13:20-21) Many people want a no cost discipleship, but Christ offers no such option. (John MacArthur, How to Take Up Your Cross)

We are going to face hardships, we are going to face persecution, we are going to have every wind and storm that comes through our lives attempt to move us from our faith in God. Satan wants nothing more than for us to stay childish in our thoughts, in our ways, and in our spiritual walk. A child is not a threat to the kingdom of darkness but someone that is spiritually mature and is a man or woman of God is a threat to Satan’s dominion. We have to remember that;

Strong sons of God are not perfected by childish pursuits.

David Breese, Living For Eternity, Moody Press, 1988, p. 78.

Just as Andrew Jackson in the story at the beginning of this message would fight, and fight, and kept getting back up we must look at our Christian life like this. The Christian life is a battle. Scripture often speaks of God’s children as soldiers, and we should not expect to have things always be calm and peaceful. The question is not whether we ever fail, but whether we get back up when we do. Proverbs 24:16 says, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.”