The Spiritually Mature Christian

When I was a teenager I said to one of my friends, "It must be great to have been a Christian for 50 years. Just think how deeply you would experience God's love. Just think how powerfully you would be able to pray. Just think how much you would know about the Bible." She replied,
"Malcolm, some of those people have been Christians for 50 years and they are still babies." The Bible says that the Christians in the book of Hebrews needed milk, not solid food. They were still babies. They needed the basic principles of Christ dying on the cross explained to them all over again. Solid food is for the mature who have taught themselves to discern between right and wrong. Hebrews 5:11-14. When the apostle Paul came to Corinth he had preached a very simple message, Jesus Christ, the good news of the crucifixion and how we can have eternal life through faith in him. These are the basic principles of Christianity. Paul also had a message of wisdom that he preached among the mature, the secret things which God has revealed by his spirit. The natural person doesn't understand these things and they appear foolish to them. They must be spiritually discerned. 1Corinthians 2. The Christian may also become carnal, ruled by sinful desires instead of living in the power of God. Paul gave the Christians in Corinth milk and not solid food because they were still ruled by their sinful desires. They were still arguing about which of the apostles they belonged to, some said they belong to Paul and some said they belonged to Apollos. They were fractious and divisive. 1Corinthians 3. The leader of Operation Mobilisation, George Verwer, had a lovely expression for the Christian who hasn't really grown spiritually. He called them a spiritual dwarf. A tiny star that only shines dimly.

What do we have to do to make sure that we grow as Christians? Like new born babies we should crave the pure milk of the word of God that we may grow. 1Peter 2:1-3. We need to read, study and memorise the Bible. Leonard Ravenhill said that the Bible is like a spark that sets the Holy Spirit on fire. His delight is in the law of the Lord and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:2. How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:9-11. Your words are sweet to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Psalm 119:103. 

We have been born again of imperishable seed, both the word of God in the Bible and the Spirit of God living inside us. We need to love one another, putting aside all malice, hypocrisy and slander, being purified by the Holy Spirit. 1Peter 1:22-25. If we walk in obedience to God, the blood of Jesus will purify us from all sin. We are not just repenting of our faults and trying to sort ourselves out, he is cleansing us. 1John 1:6-10. We have to comply with that, we have to keep walking in the light, doing the things God wants us to do, and loving one another. 1John 2:7-11. If anyone says that they love God but hates their neighbour, they are a liar. Anyone who does not love their neighbour, whom they have seen, can not love God, whom they have not seen. 1John 4:20. 

If we are full of the Holy Spirit we can understand things God's way. We are transformed by the renewing of the mind and can understand what God wants us to do. Romans 12:1,2. The natural mind doesn't understand God and is controlled by sinful desires. If the spirit that raised Christ from the dead is living inside us, he has given life to our mortal bodies. We have been set free from sin and are free to live for God. Romans 8:1-11. We naturally move from living a life dominated by sinful pleasures to living in the love, joy and peace of the Holy Spirit and being the kind of people God wants us to be. Galatians 5:16-26. When Moses came down the mountain his face was physically shining with God's glory. He covered his face with a veil, as people could not bear to look at him. We have come within the veil and we may be transformed into God's glory as we gaze upon him.

The Christian needs a strong attachment to a larger body. The lights in my flat went out because they had a poor connection to the earth. I watched the electrician tightening the earth screw as much as he could and measuring the resistance on his meter. I understood what he was doing because I used to repair microwave ovens and used to do this myself. Not just a connection to the earth, the strongest possible connection. The Christian needs a strong connection to their local church. The church is the body of the Christ. We need to meet together, minister to one another and build one another up. Only then can we reach maturity. Ephesians 4:11-13. Many Christians attend church once a month, have no commitment to any particular group of Christians and wander from one church to another. They compensate for lack of fellowship by watching lots of Christian television programmes or reading lots of books. This will prevent them from ever really growing as Christians.

The mature Christian knows whether something they are reading in a Christian book or watching on television is true or false. They can compare it to the Bible, they can discuss it with their Christian friends and they can consider whether they feel peace about it in their spirit. We have an anointing that teaches us all things. 1John 2:27. Then we are not blown about like a wave on the sea and led one way and another by false teaching. Ephesians 4:14-16. The world is an unpleasant place full of false teaching that can confuse and mislead Christians. Many Christians are constantly changing course, distracted by the latest wrong ideas about God, running around in circles.