Jun 25, 2010
The Marks of Christian Maturity
Posted by Mitch Sliwa in Gospel Identity | Comments (2)
In Christianity, there are many different streams of theology and practice that we can swim in. In some Churches the marks of maturity are how many spiritual gifts you possess such as speaking in tongues or prophecy. In some circles, the marks of maturity are viewed as adhering to external commands such as abstaining from drinking, smoking, cussing or listening to non-christian music. In some circles the marks of maturity depend on how well you understand the five points of Calvinism and how well you can articulate reformed theology. I would argue that none of these things necessarily point to maturity in Jesus. Someone could quote the most Calvin, speak in tongues, be a teetotaler and never swear but still be immature or worse not even part of Jesus' flock. Jesus spoke out against the Pharisees who would have adhered to most of these requirements I listed above. Jesus went so far as to call them children of the devil!
If these things above don't equate to Christian maturity, then what does it look like? This subject could be exhausted and books have been written about it, but I would like to give a few points and comment on them briefly.
Running towards God when we sin.
This might seem insignificant, but our response to sin says much about our view of God and the Gospel itself. A correct view of God and the Gospel will lead to victory and freedom in our walk with Christ and a faulty view will lead to fear and slavery. God is our father, and because Jesus died on the cross in our place for our sins we are able to come to him in boldness. He knows our hearts, he searches them out as an open book and knows our past present and future. When Jesus died on the cross, he knew what scum-bags we would be before we met him and even after we came to know him. Jesus did not come to save cleaned up sinless people but broken jacked up fools who spit in his face. Because of this, our sin should not cause us to hide as Adam did in the garden, but instead should cause us to run to Jesus in repentance and faith in him. True maturity in Jesus causes us to run to God when we sin instead of hiding from Him as if he would reject us based on how we live. If we are truly God's child, no amount of sin or folly could ever cause him to look down from heaven with displeasure. When God looks from heaven, he sees sinners who have been covered by the blood of Jesus. Because God the Father sees Jesus work on the cross instead of our sin and rebellion, we can come to him in our sin.
Resting in Jesus instead of pretending or performing
Another mark of maturity is our response to our own sinfulness. If we have a faulty view of our own sinfulness we will begin to pretend that nothing is wrong, and that we do not struggle with sin. The parable of the tax collector and the pharisee is a classic example of pretending. This man was not appraising his own condition with gospel goggles, instead he viewed himself as being just before God because of his own righteous works. If we have a faulty view of the Gospel, we will believe that we are justified (made right with God) by the good works we do instead of by the work that Jesus did. This will drive us to a performance driven Christian life. Don't get me wrong here, I believe that we must pursue godliness by grace driven discipline but that is not to make us God's children but it is the response to God for making us his children.
Pursue godliness by grace driven discipline
There are at least 3 ways to pursue godliness and will explore each of them briefly.
- Pursue godliness by external behavior modification driven by the flesh. This is seen most clearly in more fundamentalist circles where the emphasis is on modifying behavior in order to earn God's favor. Instead of hacking at the roots of sin people are hacking off the external branches of sin by simply avoiding certain things and making sure to do other things. For instance: don't drink, smoke, cuss, chew or hang out with girls that do and make sure to read your Bible every morning and go to Church on Sunday. Jesus had much to say to the Pharisees who were the supporters of this position in his day. He told them that they focused all of their attention on cleaning the outside of the cup while neglecting the inside which was filthy. The error of this tradition is not in the washing of the exterior but neglecting the inside. This position is simply trying to starve sin by the power of the flesh instead of putting it to death by the spirit.
- The second way to deal with sin is by abusing grace and not attempting to kill sin by the spirit. This is most exemplified in the liberals of Jesus day called the Sadducees. The Sadducees were opposed to the Pharisees in many ways and could be articulated with the phrase "God loves me, and he is ok with me continuing in Sin." This is the grace abuse the Paul spoke out against in Romans 6.
- The last view I believe is Biblical in that it seeks to kill sin by grace driven discipline. The first position has the discipline component but it is apart from grace driven discipline but is focused on sheer flesh driven discipline. The second view has the grace of God, but it is lacking the discipline necessary to kill sin. We must seek to kill sin by discipline that is driven by the grace of God by the power of the holy spirit. We must not simply starve sin by behavior modification and cleaning the outside of the cup, but going to the heart and cleaning the inside of the cup by putting sin to death by the power of the Spirit of God.
Posted by Mitch Sliwa in Gospel Identity
