December 23, 2007

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

 

Marks of Maturity

 

Introduction: One of the common themes in the Bible, in the letters to the churches, is spiritual maturity. The lack of maturity is the source of many problems in the churches of the NT and today. The Bible says this concerning Jesus Christ: “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52.) Some have noted that 4 major areas of development are included here: intellectual, physical, social and spiritual.

 

Paul made this general observation about maturity. He wrote: “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, and I thought as a child. But when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Cor. 13:11.) In the very next chapter, Paul wrote: “Brethren, be not children in understanding. Howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.” (1 Cor. 14:20.) This is the general growth from childhood to adulthood or maturity. We often resist growing up; we like to be children without responsibility and with self-centeredness. Most of us grow up because we are forced to do so. Parents plod us along; society has expectations that demand growth (completing your education and going to work); experiences in life, especially difficulties, can force us onward to maturity.

Definition of maturity. Maturity is not an easy thing to define, perhaps because it is such a comprehensive matter. It includes all four of the areas of human development noted above. Someone has defined maturity as follows: “Maturity is the ability to control anger and settle differences without violence or destruction. Maturity is patience. It is the willingness to pass up immediate pleasure in favor of the long-term gain. Maturity is perseverance, the ability to sweat out a project or a situation in spite of heavy opposition and discouraging set-backs. Maturity is the capacity to face unpleasantness and frustration, discomfort and defeat, without complaint or collapse. Maturity is humility. It is being big enough to say, ‘I was wrong.’ And, when right, the mature person need not experience the satisfaction of saying, ‘I told you so.’

Maturity is the ability to make a decision and stand by it. The immature spend their lives exploring endless possibilities; then they do nothing.

Maturity means dependability, keeping one's word, coming through in a crisis. The immature are masters of the alibi. They are the confused and the disorganized. Their lives are a maze of broken promises, former friends, unfinished business, and good intentions that somehow never materialize.

Maturity is the art of living in peace with that which we cannot change, the courage to change that which should be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Traits of immaturity. One way of defining maturity is by knowing what immaturity is. Some actions and attitudes that come to mind are: pouting, wanting your way all the time, demanding attention, lacking in knowledge, wisdom and understanding, having inaccurate, incomplete or distorted views of reality or self. An immature person refuses to talk with someone with whom they have had a disagreement for days, weeks and months on end. An immature person thinks that someone else should feed them, clothe them and provide for their needs. Immaturity is constantly complaining about things, but not lifting a finger to solve the problem themselves. An immature person is not like Christ. You did not learn this from him! (Eph. 4:20)

Spiritually Mature in Christ. Probably the best definition of maturity is given by Paul to the Ephesians. He wrote that God placed various gifts and workers in the Church “till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4:13.) Also, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Tim. 3:16.) That is the purpose of Scripture, gifts, and those God placed in the Church—for our spiritual maturity in Christ.

Factors affecting maturity. There are many factors in maturity. Instead of all four areas of maturity that we mentioned above, I now refer primarily to spiritual maturity. This one covers a lot of ground and is the one primarily referenced in Scripture. One factor affecting our maturity is how other people around us treat us, especially our parents. Unfortunately, many parents hinder their children from growing up. Children will often adopt the characteristics of their parents. “As is the mother; so is the daughter.” (Ezekiel 16:44.) We often say, Like father; like son. Our experiences in life also affect us. Imagine how different Job must have been after his experiences. Job was a mature man to begin with, but how much more afterwards? Faith changes us completely; one cannot be said to be mature without faith in God and in his Son. A lack of faith produces all kinds of problems in maturity.

 

James pointed to the role of adversity in spiritual maturity. He wrote: “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith works patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that gives to all men liberally.” (James 1:2-5.) James names two areas of maturity: wisdom and faith. The Bible says that Jesus “learned obedience by the things which he suffered and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” (Heb. 5:8-9.)

 

The writer of Hebrews said that if one did not grow from milk to meat, he would remain a babe in Christ. “Everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection.” (Heb. 5:13-6:1.) What we have been taught or fed is a major factor in our maturity. I have found that people resist the meat of God’s Word. They do not want to go there. They had rather remain with the first principles and without any shame they demand it.

 

To the Corinthians, Paul likewise pointed to this same problem. He wrote, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk and not with meat; for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither are you now able.” (1 Cor. 3:1-2.) This lack of spiritual maturity caused them to be divisive, filled with envy and strife. They argued over the spiritual gifts and who was the more spiritual. Spiritual immaturity causes many problems in churches.

 

The condition of the human heart is a major factor in maturity. Jesus told a parable of a sower going forth to sow seed. The seed fell on four different kinds of soil: wayside, thorny, stony and good soil. (Mark 4, Luke 8.) A question that arises from this parable is: Whose responsibility is it for being wayside, thorny or stony? What made the good soil good? The Bible answers, “Cleanse your hands, you sinners; purify our hearts, you double-minded.” (James 4:8.) We are primarily responsible for the condition of our own hearts.

 

Quotations Expressing Spiritual Maturity

 

Watchman Nee (preacher in China and a popular author): “Man’s thought is always on the punishment that will come to him if he sins, but God’s thought is always on the glory man will miss if he sins.”

 

It was Isaiah who penned these words about God and man: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9.) The immaturity of man’s thinking is always made evident when compared to the thoughts of God. Watchman Nee was right. Man is thinking like a child when he thinks only about getting by with sin or whether he can bear the punishment for it. God is thinking about what we will miss while behaving like children.

 

Abigail: This wonderful, mature woman was married to a churlish, childish man named Nabal. The Bible says of her: “She was a woman of good understanding and of a beautiful countenance, but the man was churlish and evil in his doings.” (1 Samuel 25:3.) When Nabal refused to give David and his men food and water, Abigail went to King David and said these things to him: “Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal; for as his name, so is he. Nabal is his name and folly is with him, but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord whom thou didst send. . . I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid; for the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. . . It shall come to pass when the Lord shall have done to my lord according to all the good that he hath spoken concerning thee, and shall have appointed thee ruler over Israel; that this shall be no grief unto thee, nor offence of heart unto my lord, either that thou hast shed blood causeless or that my lord hath avenged himself, but when the Lord shall have dealt well with my lord, then remember thine handmaid.” (1 Sam. 25:25-31.)

David replied, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me and blessed be thy advice and blessed be thou which hast kept me this day from coming to shed blood and from avenging myself with mine own hand. . . .” (25:32-33.) After Nabal was stricken by the Lord, David married Abigail, a woman of great maturity and understanding.

 

Esther: She was a Jewish maiden who was raised by her uncle, Mordecai. The story is about the fate of the Jews while in Babylonian captivity. Haman was a political figure under the king who despised Mordecai because he would not give him the honor he thought he deserved. Haman plotted to have all the Jews in Babylon slain by the authority of the king. The self-centered, immature person in this story is Haman who justly died on the gallows that he had built for Mordecai. (Esther 7:10.) The mature person in this story is Esther (so also Vashti for refusing to dance before drunken men and Mordecai for raising his niece and for protecting the Jews in Babylon). She risked her life by going before the king, her husband. She said to her uncle, “If I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16.) This took great courage on her part. Mordecai said to her, “Who knows whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (4:14.) The Kingdom of God needs mature people; it suffers greatly due to immature ones.

 

Paul: One of the most remarkable and mature persons in the Bible is Paul the apostle. His writings reveal his heart and deeds toward others. Listen to this quotation from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians:

 

“Behold, this is the third time that I am ready to come to you and I will not be burdensome to you. I will not seek yours, but you. For the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” (2 Cor. 12:14-15.)

 

False teachers, who claimed a greater spirituality than Paul, tried to discredit Paul before the Corinthians. The difference between the false teachers and Paul is that they did not sacrifice to establish the Church at Corinth as Paul did. They were trying to obtain benefits from them undeservingly. They were evil men seeking an advantage from good people. Paul put his life on the line for the churches that he established. He was beaten, mistreated and left for dead. He wrote that he would gladly spend and be spent for them, though the more he loved them, the less he would be loved. This is an amazing expression of love and maturity. It sounds like Jesus on the cross: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34.)

 

Syro-Phonecian woman. A mother pleaded with the disciples and with Jesus to heal her daughter who was troubled with an evil spirit. The disciples asked Jesus to send her away. Jesus said to her that he did not come to the Gentiles but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He asked her if it were suitable to take the children’s bread and feed it to dogs. Instead of being offended, she replied, “Truth, Lord, but yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.” Jesus was amazed at her faith. He replied, “Great is thy faith; be it unto you as you will.” (Matt. 15:21-28.)

 

Conclusion: How do we grow to maturity? Note 2 Peter 1:5-11.