Warren Wiersbe is one of the most popular and well known Bible teachers in all of the world. He once made this incredible statement: "After over forty years of ministry, I am convinced that spiritual immaturity is the number one problem in our churches." [1]
I heard a story of a little boy who fell out of bed in the middle of the night. When his mother rushed to his room to ask him what happened, he said, "I don't know. I guess I stayed too close to where I got in." So many Christians do that with their faith. For most of their Christian life they stay too close where they got in.
You see, we often think that "growing up is showing up." We think that if a person comes to church on Sunday morning, and perhaps even attends a Bible study group, and maybe even holds an official position in the church like deacon, or Sunday School teacher, or committee member, or a trustee, that he or she must be a mature Christian. Well I want you to know that some of the most immature Christians I have ever pastored never missed a Sunday morning church service. Some of the most immature Christians I know have been in the same Bible study class for twenty years, and some of the most immature Christians I know have held official positions in the church.
In fact, I would go a little further and say, in addition to what Dr. Wiersbe said, that the second greatest problem in the church is having spiritually immature people in places of leadership.
God wants you to grow up. Your Heavenly Father's goal is for you to mature and to become more like Jesus everyday. The sad truth is there are millions of Christians who grow older, but they never grow up.
Over and over and over we are told that God wants us to grow up.
"We are to grow up in every way into Him who is the head into Christ." (Eph. 4:15 ESV)
"So let us stop going over the basics of Christianity again and again; let us go on instead and become mature." (Heb. 6:1 NLT)
"Like newborn infants long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation." (1 Pet. 2:2 ESV)
"Grow in grace and understanding of our Master and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Pet. 3:18 The MSG)
Growth is the goal of the Christian. Maturity is mandatory for every child of God. When a Christian stops growing he starts backsliding; you never stay the same. If you are the same Christian today that you were a year ago, you are not the Christian that you ought to be. I want to share with you in this message how you can attain spiritual maturity.
I. I Must Desire My Spiritual Maturity
You will notice in verses 12 through 14 of 1 John that he identifies three levels of spiritual maturity. In verse 12 he speaks of "little children." In verse 13 he speaks of "fathers" and also of "young men." Now I see the same thing when I look out at this congregation. Physically I can identify the children, I can identify the young people, and I can identify the fathers or the mature adults. But interestingly, I cannot equate physical maturity with spiritual maturity. In other words, you cannot determine the spiritual maturity of an individual by the physical maturity. I may be looking at a young person who, in his spiritual maturity, is an adult, and I may be looking at an adult who, in his spiritual maturity, is a child.
The Greek word for "children" in verse 13 refers to an immature baby. Now there is nothing wrong with being a baby. 1 Pet. 2:2 says, "We are to desire the milk of the word like newborn babes." But even though there is nothing wrong with being a baby, there is something wrong with staying a baby.
We have churches today that are unfortunately filled with baby Christians; people are spiritually are still in the nursery. That is a fitting description because the characteristic of a baby that is most descriptive is selfishness. Babies are completely self-centered. If they don't get what they want when they want it what do they do? cry. Whose needs do they care about?—their own. Whenever you give them what they want, do they ever thank you?—no. Do they ever try to help someone else?—no. Do they ever give anything except what they deposit in their diaper?—no. All a little baby does is take, and all a little baby cares about is himself. We are, from the moment we are born again into God's family as a baby, to begin to move on to the next stage of maturity.
John refers to the second category which is "young men." Now these are Christians who have moved from baby's milk to adult meat. They are beginning to learn that they are responsible for their own spiritual maturity. They are beginning to learn that God can speak to them through the Bible, and God can answer their prayers just like He can the minister or the pastor.
But the ultimate goal is to reach the stage of the "father." Now John repeats himself when he talks about fathers. He says in verse 13, "Fathers have known Him who is from the beginning." He says exactly the same thing in verse 14, "Fathers have known Him who is from the beginning." Now the ultimate mark of maturity is when you know God. You know not just the will of God, or the work of God, or the ways of God, or even the word of God; you know God. Because the more you know the Father, the more you are going to become like the Father.
There is obviously a process that one must follow to take you from being a baby to a young person to an adult. But spiritual growth is not automatic. If you're going to attain spiritual maturity, if you're going to grow, you've got to want to grow. You've got to decide to grow. You've got to make an effort to grow, and you've got to continue to grow.
Churches are filled with people who have not made the commitment to grow and they attend church all of their life as a spiritual baby. You see, an active member is not necessarily the same as a mature member.
The truth is that spiritual maturity is intentional. It requires commitment, effort, determination and work. Let me remind you again of 1 Pet. 2:2 in a different translation. "You must crave pure spiritual milk so that you can grow." (1 Pet. 2:2 NLT) A young man once came to the great teacher, Socrates, and said, "Socrates, will you be my teacher?" Socrates told the young man to follow him, and he turned and walked into the ocean.
The young man followed him into the sea, and they kept walking until the water was just touching their lips. Socrates then turned around and put both hands on the young man's head and pushed him under the water. The young man, wanting to be a compliant student, stayed there for awhile, but soon he began to spit and sputter, and thrash about trying to get air. All the while Socrates held him under the water. Soon the man began blowing large bubbles and thrashing about as wildly as he possibly could. Finally, Socrates took his hands off the young man who popped to the surface gasping for air, spewing water out of his mouth. He looked at Socrates and said, "Why did you do that?"
Socrates looked at him and said, "When you want to learn as much as you wanted to breathe, then I will be your teacher." When you really begin to crave spiritual growth like a baby craves milk, you will then begin to really grow and mature in the Lord Jesus Christ.
II. I Must Develop My Spiritual Maturity
Now in order to leave childhood you must become a young adult, and according to 1 Jn 2:14 the mark of a young adult is this: "I have written to you young men because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one." Now the word "abide" means "to live with." If you're going to grow as a Christian you must live with the word of God. You must live in the word of God. Then you will be able to live by the word of God. Let me be very plain. Unless you get into the word of God yourself on a consistent basis, you will never ever grow to full spiritual maturity. It's just this simple. Those who want to grow read their Bible; to those who don't won't.
I want to go further. If spiritual maturity is going to be a priority in your life, Bible study must become a priority in your life. You cannot read the newspaper for one hour, watch the television for three hours, read the Bible three minutes and expect to grow.
I wonder how many of you would claim to believe the Bible "from cover to cover?" [have them raise their hands] Now don't raise your hands when I ask this question, but how many of you have read the Bible from cover to cover? It's a shame that there are atheists and skeptics who have read the Bible from cover to cover and don't believe it, while there are millions of Christians who believe it from cover to cover but have never read it.
Do you realize that if you will read the Bible just 15 minutes a day you will read completely through it once a year? If you cut out one 30 minute television program a day and read your Bible instead, you will read through the entire Bible twice a year.
I heard a preacher say one time that the devil is not afraid of a Bible with dust on it. That is true. Just as no soldier is afraid of a sword that is still in its sheaf, the devil is not afraid of a Bible that is never opened. I can tell you for sure that big Christians are Bible Christians.
In reality this book is God's manual for maturity. 2 Tim. 3:16 says, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." Now each one of those purposes are very important. The Bible gives us doctrine so we can know what is right. It then gives us reproof so we can know what is not right. It then gives us correction to tell us how to get right, and then it gives us instruction so we can know how to stay right.
Suppose I have to drive from Atlanta, Georgia to Denver, Colorado to speak at a conference. Now to make sure I don't get lost I set down with a road map and plot my course. Let's imagine that Teresa is going to be my navigator. Well the correct course is like doctrine. It tells me what is right and will guide me to my destination.
Now suppose as I'm driving along Teresa is napping and not navigating (which is, by the way, what she usually does on a long trip), and I foolishly take the wrong exit. Now her sensitive navigational alarm clock tells her to wake up immediately. She says, "You shouldn't have turned there." Now that is reproof. She just told me I was not right. So I pull off the detour, turn the car around and get back on the main road. Now that is correction; I'm getting right. Then suppose Teresa puts that map on the seat, points to it and says, "Now follow this and you won't go wrong." That's instruction; telling me how to stay right.
You could do a lot of things that will help you along the road to spiritual maturity. But if you do not take time everyday to spend time with the word of God, so that you can hear the voice of the God of the word, you will stay a spiritual baby all of your life. Don't think that you can come to church once a week and let me spoon feed you 35 minutes worth of truth and that's all you need. Just as you eat food for your physical body everyday, you must eat the meat of the word of God for your soul everyday.
III. I Must Demonstrate My Spiritual Maturity
Now I want you to listen very carefully to this next statement: Spiritual maturity is demonstrated more by how you behave than it is by what you believe. If you believe, or say you believe, does not matter if you do not behave like you believe what you believe. "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show it by his good behavior." (James 3:13 NASB) You see, sometimes we get the idea that if a person knows a lot about the Bible he or she must be spiritually mature.
I have known Bible study teachers who have a lot of head knowledge of the Bible, but they are not spiritually mature. In fact, Paul said in 1 Cor. 13 that knowledge without love puffs up. You see, maturity is not how much you know about Jesus in your head; it is how well you know Jesus in your heart, and how much you show Jesus in your life.
That's why the real mark of maturity is obedience. James said, "Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to His word; instead put it into practice." (James 1:22 TEV) Real maturity is not just learning what the Bible says, but applying it in different circumstances in your life.
Whether you are a preacher of the gospel like I am, or a Bible study teacher, or a group leader, remember this: The objective of teaching and preaching is not just to provide information, it is to change lives. God is a lot more concerned with your character than He is with your comfort. The way we get to demonstrate spiritual maturity is through the various circumstances that come into our lives. Because every time something happens to us, good, bad, or ugly, it gives us an opportunity to respond in the way God would have us to according to His word, and when we do that we build character.
The fruit of the Spirit, according to Gal. 5:22-23 is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. How does God produce the fruit of Spirit in our lives? By putting us in the exact type of circumstance to force us to bear the fruit that is needed in that particular situation. Do you know any people around you that you work with, or live next to that are unlovable? God wants to use those people to teach you how to love.
You ever had your heart broken by a girl or a guy, or a death in the family? God brings sorrow into your life to teach you joy. Anybody here in the middle of a storm, having difficulties, people upset with you, criticizing you? God is trying to develop peace within your heart. So the next time you are wondering why you're going through a difficult time in your life, just remember God is wanting to use that situation so you can demonstrate both to the saint and the sinner that you have the spiritual maturity to see it through God's viewpoint, and to handle it according to God's truth.
The Marines have a distinguished reputation for meticulously training their soldiers. All new recruits understand some of the rationale behind their training. One newcomer to boot camp was confused and even angered by the drill instructor's obsession for details. When holding their trays in the food line, each man was forced to hold his hands in a certain position. They were required to have their right hand on the bottom corner and their left hand on the top corner; all the while holding it flat against their chest. Whenever the men would fail to hold their tray exactly as instructed they were verbally chastised and ordered to do pushups.
They began to wonder why standing in line just to get food they had to hold their tray a particular way. Well, later when their weapons were issued, these men were amazed to see how they were instructed to hold their rifle whether they were running or marching exactly the same way they held their food tray. Now what seemed like insignificant repetition in the mess hall was actually critical training for the battlefield.
Many times we find ourselves in situations where we're having to respond in certain ways. We may not understand either the circumstance or our response. But God is using that to train us for the future, and to build character within us.
I heard about a man that took his young daughter to a carnival, and she ran over to a booth and asked for some cotton candy. When the attendant handed her this gigantic ball of cotton candy, the dad said, "Sweetheart, are you sure you can eat all of that?" The little girl said, "Don't worry, dad, I'm a lot bigger on the inside than I am on the outside." Well, that is what our Heavenly Father wants for you and me, that everyday we grow bigger on the inside than we are on the outside. We can do it through reading, receiving, remembering, and reproducing His Word through our life.
[1]Real Life, May-June, 1988.