Marks of Maturity – Part 1

Most of us want to mature as Christians. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of believers do not want to stay immature and “baby-ish” in their walk with the Lord. And clearly the scripture gives us instruction about growing up in Christ. Paul, James and Peter exhort us over and over to be mature in our walk with Jesus.

So, here’s the question: What are the indicators of maturity in my walk with Christ? How do I know that I’ve grown? There has to be some measurable results which will tell me that I have progressed in the things of God. Over the next few weeks, we are going to be covering things that I like to call “marks” of maturity in the believer’s life. The New Testament has a lot to say on the subject, so let’s dive in…

The first concept that I would like for us to get into is perhaps one of the most important things that we can learn as Christians. Yet it is one that is either ignored or poorly taught on a wide scale in the Church world today. That is, being led by the Spirit of God. Of all the marks of maturity in our lives as Christians, this issue must have a high priority. As believers, we MUST be able to hear from God and allow what we hear to be the thing which guides and directs our decisions and lifestyles. In this is true maturity. Often times we place emphasis on things which are carnal as indicators of our walk with God. For example, we say things like “I haven’t missed a Sunday service in two years. My walk with God must be on point.” Yet when the scripture deals with our maturity in God, it always addresses internal things. Things like our love walk, or our ability to control anger and our sensitivity to God’s Spirit. Funny, how it never deals with our church attendance, or even (as ministers) our ability to preach a good sermon, or how many people we got saved last month. The scriptures indicate that internal aspects of our life are the things that are the most important. The book of Romans illustrates this for us perfectly.

Romans 8:14 states: “For all who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”

Now there are two things to notice here. The first is the word “led” and the second is the word “son.” Both are critical to defining the meaning of this scripture and to understanding our discussion regarding maturity. The word “led” means: “To lead, by accompanying into a place; To conduct or bring.” So firstly we need to see that it’s God’s desire to lead us into His will and purpose for our lives through the working of the Holy Spirit. That means that the Holy Spirit can and will take you deeper into God’s heart if you’re willing to follow. The scripture says in 1 Corinthians 2 that “…The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God…” So The Holy Spirit is always exploring the depths of God’s will and if we’re willing to follow Him, He’ll take us with Him on that journey. He’ll literally lead us into the will of God.

There are so many practical applications in our lives when it comes to being led. For example, it’s possible for us to have a working knowledge of God’s will regarding our future and then make choices based on that knowledge. If you’re sensitive to God’s Spirit and to His leading, than He can give you insight about the future, He can tell you where to be or where not to be. So often, we blame the devil for causing things to go wrong in our lives, when in reality a simple obedience to a word from the Lord would have spared us the trouble. God’s heart is always good and loving. He wants to lead us into His plan for us which is perfect. It’s ALWAYS up to us whether or not we follow.

Secondly, the scripture uses the word “son.” Now this is an interesting Greek word, because it is not the same as the word in the scripture which describes us as God’s children. This word for “son” is not trying to tell us that we’re God’s kids. In fact, Paul already assumes that we know that we’re God’s offspring, so he uses this word “son” instead of “child.” The reason that this word is so awesome is because it denotes maturity. Everywhere else in scripture where you see the word “child” or “children” the Bible is reminding us that we’re God’s kids. We’re His offspring, we’re in His family. But this word “son” is special because it indicates maturity. And as we all know, not every Christian is mature.

You see, the minute we get saved, we become God’s “child.” But unfortunately, not everyone grows from a child to a mature “son.” Think of it in natural terms for a moment. When you’re a baby, everything is done for you. Mommy and Daddy have to feed you, and clothe you. They have to bathe you and help you learn to walk. But as you grow, the responsibility of life begins to shift from your parents over onto you. When you’re 35 years old, no one is changing your diaper anymore (hopefully). You now have the authority and ability to be trusted with things in your life. Like the ability to drive a car or own a home. But these were things that you never could do as a child. Right?

It’s the same in the Kingdom of God. We must develop and grow in the things of God and move beyond spiritual babyhood into maturity as a “son” of God. And one of the first ways in which we do that is by learning to be led by God’s Spirit. The way that we know that we’re mature is when we can follow God into uncharted waters based on what He has spoken to us, with no fear or concern for our surroundings. This is a mark of maturity. Sonship, not babyhood. Being one of God’s sons enables you to be entrusted with heavenly wisdom and foreknowledge of things to come. Babies always live in the moment, but sons always know what is on their Father’s mind and walk in a confident understanding of His will.

In order for you and I to grow in our relationship with the Father, we must learn to be led by His Spirit. Maturity is found in your ability to hear God and then execute what you’ve heard. Notice that it’s not just in the hearing that we are matured. The scripture doesn’t say that all who hear God are the sons of God. It says, all who are led by Him are His sons. We must be willing to take instruction from God’s Spirit and then do what we’ve heard! This is maturity my friend. It’s not whether or not you attended every Bible study in the month of June last year or the fact that your family has attended the same church for 150 years. Those things are of little relevance when it comes to maturity. The question is: Can you hear God? And: When you’ve heard him, are you willing to do what He’s said? Those are the issues that truly indicate where you’re walk with the Lord is really at.

Are you hungry to be a mature son of God, or are you comfortable with having your spiritual diapers changed?

Gideon – Part 2

A video follow up to our last blog entry regarding Gideon… Enjoy!

Fight Discouragement with Faith

Sometimes I think that we have a tendency to be a bit passive in life. I know that this has been the case for me in times past. It is certainly not a constant, but there are those moments when we feel like lying down would be easier than facing whatever is standing in our way. Have you ever had moments of discouragement? Where your efforts don’t seem to be translating into measurable success? It seems like you’re making progress but when you step back, you feel as though you haven’t gotten anywhere. Like a hamster on a wheel. You spin.

Welcome to the land of discouragement. It’s that place that’s sandwiched in between success and mediocrity. It’s the moments in life that, when we look back, seem to be the moments that defined our success or contributed to our failure. It’s the point where the camel chooses to lie down because someone just put that last straw its back, and now it feels broken. And it’s one of the places where the enemy of our soul has been allowed to creep in and end the dreams of many who were not fortified by faith in God.

I know that I sound a bit negative this morning, but there’s a happy ending, I promise. I mentioned at the beginning that there are times in life when we find it much easier to pacify ourselves rather than fight the good fight. We feel as though the challenges of life are speeding towards us like a train with no brakes, and the easiest thing to do would be to lay down and take it. It seems to me that in these types of situations the devil finds a voice in people’s minds and he begins to use discouragement to weaken them towards their breaking point. But the interesting thing about discouragement is that it is easily ousted by simple faith in God. When you begin to analyze discouragement, you find that it’s not quite as deadly as it appears.

For example, Jesus said in Mark 11:22-23 “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, he who says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things that he says will be done. He will have whatever he says.”

 I wonder why Jesus uses a mountain as His example in this scripture. I think it’s probably related to the size and appearance of mountains. Anyone who lives around Boone knows how big our mountains are here and how intimidating they can look. And discouragement often takes on a large and somewhat foreboding, “mountainous” appearance in our minds. But the interesting thing is that unlike mountains, discouragement is a mere shadow of things. It’s an illusion from the devil. A net result of his deceptions. Discouragement is an emotion that is easily laid to rest by having faith in God.

Most of us know this, but often fail to remind ourselves that the devil is a LIAR. Jesus said so in the book of John. He’s the father of LIES. He is incapable of telling the truth, and even when he does say something that seems accurate, it’s always laced with some element of deception. So it stands to reason that when he tries to use discouragement to beat you up, he’s simply not telling you the truth! So when you hear that little voice in your brain saying, “You can’t make it!”…. Rejoice! Because, guess what? You can make it! The devil just confirmed that you are victorious by telling you that you weren’t…

 So the question then remains: Where does the strength to rejoice come from, when I’m fed the lie of failure? The answer is simple: Faith in God.

You see, faith is a heavenly quality that challenges a natural reality. One of the things that defines faith is it’s ability to put up a fight. Faith always challenges the obstacle in front of it with the power that’s behind it. And faith in God always challenges every single discouragement that we face with the power of God. It’s been said that “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.” Well, guess what? Faith is the “fight” in the dog. And the stronger your faith is towards God, the stronger you are in a fight.

Discouragement is always a battle. It’s always a challenge. But it’s always defeat-able. Faith will triumph over every lie that the enemy can muster. And if we can remind ourselves that “Greater is He that is IN ME, than he that is in the world…” Our faith will always rise to the occasion and trump the devil’s biggest onslaught of discouragement.

xJust like a can of soda that’s shaken up, faith can be awoken inside of you and can explode onto your circumstance. So remember to put your trust in God and let faith froth up in your heart. Then watch it extinguish the fires of Satan’s discouragement.

Knowing God?

I would like to write about a concept this morning that has extreme relevance to us as the church of Jesus Christ, and as a body of believers. This past week I came across a blog article by a Christian man who shall remain nameless, mostly because I can’t actually remember his name. HA! He was not a famous preacher by any means and most of us probably don’t know who he is, but he wrote a blog article which I found to be rather troubling. I would like to address the concept that he wrote about and then offer my thoughts.

The general premise of his writing was centered around the concept of people hearing from God and therefore understanding and knowing God. It was his argument that the idea of hearing from God was not entirely biblical. That people who have experiences where they hear the voice of God were either not being honest about their experience or that they imagined it and were, in his mind, discredited. I found these statements about hearing from God very troubling for two reasons.

The first reason is one that can be laid to rest rather quickly. And that is that God IS speaking to people ALL THE TIME. This is a point which almost needs no argument. There is a myriad of scriptures in both the Old and New Testament, which validate the reality that God speaks to people and that the more we listen, the more we’ll hear. Now, often times we charismatic folks get ridiculed for elevating our experiences to a height that reaches beyond the scope of scripture. And while I don’t agree with most of that ridicule, I do understand it. Because I have seen and heard things in charismatic churches which sometimes make me scratch my head. But let me emphatically say that this idea of whether or not we can and do hear from God is NOT one of those situations that cannot be proven in scripture. Hearing from God is NOT a charismatic abuse! It’s a reality which is taking place all over the world in the lives of Christians every day.

This leads me to my second reason for being troubled. I believe that this argument about hearing from God indicates a greater concern. And that concern is the argument over whether or not we can “know” God. You see, if I say that I hear from God, than I’m also claiming to “know” something about God. By saying that God is speaking to me, I’m also claiming to know that God speaks. By saying that God healed me is also implying that God heals. When our experiences with God become personal they indicate that we know something about God’s character, ways and motives. Knowing God is an issue which I find to be hotly contested in the church world. And that is the issue which I would like to talk about today.

After reading this man’s article this week, I was prompted to write the following as my status on Facebook: “It is dangerous to assume that we know everything that there is to know about God. This attitude will always lead to pride. It is however also equally dangerous to assume that God is somehow “un-knowable”. This is also pride, in the form of false humility. I’m not being humble when I assume that I can’t know God’s ways or desires. His Word is very clear.”

This idea of knowing God, is one that is fairly simple for us to understand. Yet it seems that people are so divided on the subject. So many people subscribe to the idea that since God is a sovereign being, everything that happens to them is somehow part of His plan. Therefore God’s motives and ways are un-knowable. He does what He does and we just have to live with it. While the other “half” seems to be so accustomed to receiving revelation that they get prideful about their knowledge of God. They look down on those who don’t have any revelation about God . They feel as though they have everything figured out and so they stifle themselves from ever learning more about God and His ways.

Interestingly enough, both of these views are heavily rooted in pride and are equally destructive. Unfortunately it’s rare to find a person who will admit to being in pride in either of these areas. That’s the funny thing about pride. It never admits to being wrong. Prideful people rarely consider themselves prideful. That would hurt their pride too much. HA! But all joking aside, both of these view points are very destructive to a person’s efforts to live for God. I should never assume that I know everything that there is to know about God. One of the reasons that this becomes harmful is that I cease to be vulnerable before God and I am no longer teachable. If I think that I have God figured out, I’ll close myself to the idea of learning more about Him. The scripture teaches us that God is not able to be contained by time and space. He inhabits and fills eternity. His Words are infinite and His power is without limit. Why would we think that we could cram all of His majesty into our minds? Our minds have natural limits, yet God is without limit. How could we possess unlimited resource in a limited container? I think the answer is obvious. There should always be a sense of wonder and amazement at the grandeur of God in the life of a Christian. We would be foolish to think that we have “arrived”. After all, we will spend eternity comprehending God’s awesomeness. Sounds like fun huh?

Of course this doesn’t mean that God is not able to be known. We must have a balanced perspective about this. As I stated before, thinking we know everything about God is a prideful position to take. The pride of that viewpoint is fairly obvious. But the other side of the coin is equally prideful, even though it can be a little harder to spot.

When I take the stance that God is “un-knowable” I am doing an injustice to the truth found in scripture. I hear many people quote these famous lines: “The Lord works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform…” People have based their lives on that phrase. They quote it when something bad happens to them and they don’t understand why. People believe that God is doing all kinds of hurtful things to them and all of these things just fit into His “mysterious ways.” Forget about the fact that this phrase is not in the Bible at all. It was written in the 1700’s by a guy named William Cowper, who I’m sure was a very devout believer.

The reality is that God doesn’t work in mysterious ways at all. In fact, God’s ways are always filled with purpose and are intentional. God doesn’t do things while being shrouded in mystery. He tells us in 1 Cor. 2:9-12 “But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, The things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

Sound mysterious?? I think not. The only times that God seems mysterious to people is when they are lacking in revelation from His Spirit. It’s quite simple really. The longer I walk with God, the more I should expect to learn and know about Him. Yet this is the opposite of many people’s experience. They walk with God for years and after all that time, they end up more confused than when they started. Let it not be so with us!

I remember learning this lesson one day when I was putting Claire in the back seat of the car and getting ready to drive into town. She was so excited to be getting into the car. She had absolutely no idea where we were going, but she was just glad to be along for the ride. I realized that since she is just a little girl and immature, she doesn’t understand my ways as her father. She didn’t know where in town we were headed, and she couldn’t give me directions even if she did know where we were going. This is how Christian’s start they’re relationships with God. We start off like little kids, not really understanding God. But we’re not supposed to stay that way… When Claire is 18 years old, I expect her to be able to know the directions to town from our house. Because understanding is a clear sign of maturity. As she grows, she will learn things. The more time she spends with me, the more she’ll know about my desires for her as her dad.

The same is true for our relationship with our Father God. As we walk with Him, the sense of mystery about who He is should fade. We should be learning things from His Spirit about who God is, and how He thinks. We should come into an understanding of Him the longer we’re around Him. Paul tells us in Philippians that he desires to “…know Him (Jesus) in the power of His resurrection…” And one of the most profound things about the New Covenant as stated in Hebrews is “…No man shall say to his neighbor ‘Know God’ for they shall all know Me, from the least to the greatest…” Personal revelation of God’s character, nature, motives and desires is a direct promise in the New Covenant.

So is God able to be known in His entirety? Certainly not. At least not at the moment. But does He desire to reveal Himself to us every single day? Absolutely. His goal is that we walk in stride with Him, so that He can teach us about who He is. Be sure that you remain teachable so that The Father can reveal Himself to you more fully. And always remember to live in the truth of the things that you have already learned! Never let what you know, stop you from knowing more! God is ready to reveal Himself to you… Are you ready to see and know?

Running Around with Dad

Have you ever had one of those moments in life where something profound happened during a moment of silliness? I think that sometimes the Lord delights in showing us deep things when we least expect Him to. It seems that in His grand sense of humor, He finds ways to teach us during the times when we’re just “minding our own business” and having fun. God really is a funny guy, and I enjoy His interruptions… Something interesting happened to me this week. It might not seem that interesting to others, but it sure did catch me off guard and reminded me of a profound truth. I’d like to share that story with you.

It was about 7:30 in the evening and I was having a fun little time with my daughter Claire in our living room. We were on the floor playing with her toys and laughing. I had dressed her in her pajamas for bed and I knew that we had few more minutes before it was time to put her down to sleep. Now, our daughter has always been very good at going right to sleep when we lay her in her crib at night. Typically we never even hear a peep out of the kid. She just goes right to sleep. But being the innovative dad that I am (just kidding), sometimes I will try to wear her out a little bit before it’s time for sleep. I’m not sure if this is a good parenting tactic or not, but it seems to make sense to me. If I make her run around a little bit, it will tire her out and help her to sleep soundly.

So we started running around the living room. Myself on my knees and her in her adorable pink one-piece pajamas with the built in “feet.” I had made it my personal goal to chase her around the coffee table, eventually catching her and rolling onto the floor. This of course ended with much tickling, and lots of little toddler kisses. (Unfortunately, if you’re not a parent, you don’t have the slightest clue of how rewarding these moments really are. Solution? Get married and have lots of kids! haha.)

Amidst all of this fun and laughter, the oddest thing started happening. Instead of running away from me, my daughter changed her “strategy” and started running straight for me. As I said before, this surprised me and I wasn’t sure why she was doing this. But as I thought about it, the reality quickly dawned on me: She couldn’t wait for me to catch her. For her, the best part about the chase was when it ended. The real reward was when I “tackled” her to floor and tickled her until she squealed!

This experience became a new game in itself. We started lining up on opposite sides of the living room and began charging at each other, the anticipation building with each step. There was a delightful tension and expectation in her eyes. She could hardly wait for daddy to scoop her up and give her all the hugs and kisses that she could handle. It was like that feeling that you get when you arrive at the top of the roller coaster track, just before making that initial drop. You’re tense with anticipation and you can’t wait to go over the edge. It’s a wonderful feeling. And that’s what I saw in my daughter that night. Anticipation of being swept up by daddy. She was so enamored with the idea of me “catching” her that she actually altered her course of movement so that the payoff would come sooner. It was in this that God starting talking to me…

Now, I tell you this story at the risk of sounding cheesy. And even as I write this, it’s hard for me not to be overcome with emotion at the thought of how precious those few moments were for me. But as a dad, there’s simply nothing greater than the affection of your kids. No matter what age they are. These moments of love, affection and attention from your children are the things that help to shape your life. And we must never take them for granted.

As I thought about this experience with Claire, my mind was drawn towards a book that I read a long time ago by a man named Tommy Tenney titled “God Chasers.” In fact, the story that I’m telling you bears some eerie similarities with some of the stories of his book. I do not wish to copy or plagiarize his work, but it would seem that we’ve had some similar situations as fathers. And it seems as though God has taught us some similar lessons through our fatherhood experiences. As I sat there that night and contemplated the lesson that had unfolded in front of me, my heart was drawn to the following scripture, which is found in James 4:8. It says:

“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

I have heard this scripture quoted many times and I have even preached it with vigor. But I have never seen it displayed so clearly or accurately until I watched my daughter charge at me in our living room that night. The lesson is clear. Often times we play our little religious games with God, trotting around and playing “tag” with the Holy Spirit. When the whole time God is wanting us to change our course of action and run at Him. He makes Himself available to us and asks us only to come after Him. God has made it easy for us to find Him, because He’s “hidden” in plain sight. Often times we just need to be like Claire and change our direction. We need to make a slight course adjustment and move in the path that leads straight to Him. We’ll find every time that He’s waiting to “catch” us.

Sometimes this can be difficult for us, because many times life gets in the way. Our passion for God gets mixed with the cares and obligations of life. It happens to every single on of us at various times in our lives. But the good news is that it’s easy to diagnose and just as easy to fix. Let’s take a look at this same scripture again from the New Living Translation. I like the simple way that this verse is translated in the NLT. It reads:

“Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.”

Notice that last phrase: “…your loyalty is divided between God and the world.” Wow. That’s an intense accusation, but yet it’s one that most of us live with much of the time. That word loyalty is powerful. It speaks of our heart’s constant desires. It represents which direction we gravitate to when life is in its normal routine. It’s easy to cling to God when life is bad, in the same way that it’s easy to grab a life boat when your sinking in the ocean. But that word loyalty….that word changes everything.

Loyalty indicates a consistency that is maintained regardless of the situation. Meaning that I’m moving in God’s direction at all times. Now this doesn’t mean that I can’t be committed to the world. There are responsibilities that all of us have in the world. We have jobs, social commitments, mortgages, etc. that we are committed to and there’s nothing wrong with that. Because I can be “committed” to my job and still be “loyal” to God. The difference is found when we look first at our hearts and second at our priorities. If my heart is putting God first than my priorities will be filtered through my heart’s desires and my actions will reflect my priorities. Make sense?

We must realize that we can chase after God all the time. James 4:8 diagnoses our problem for us. Much of the time our loyalties are divided between God and the world through the choices that we make. Every day we have a choice to either “Draw near to God” or not. And our priorities and actions will always be a clear indicator of where our loyalties really lie. The way we live is always a very good test of where our hearts are at. You see, God designed us this way. He made it very easy for us to diagnose areas for improvement in our lives. The quickest way to adjust my lifestyle is to get close enough to God so that He can change my heart’s condition. Which is why the scripture tells us to draw near… The more that I draw near Him, the more He changes me, which causes me to draw even closer to Him. It’s perpetual. Closeness with God always results in even more closeness with Him.

When my daughter runs at me, the world stops spinning. My heart is drawn to her as her father in an even stronger capacity. Time with one another strengthens the bond that we have and always leads to us spending even more time together. As Christians, we should be known for our closeness with God. The world should look at us and notice that we are infatuated with Him. Our relationship with the Father should be reflected in every arena of our lives. But much of the time it’s not. Often times I find myself repenting for not putting God first. Some days it seems as though I “wake up” or “snap out of” my little bubble and realize that I haven’t been charging at God in an area of my life. It’s not something to feel guilty about. It just simply requires a course adjustment. We just need to repent and start to give those areas to the Lord.

My prayer for you as well as for me is that we would define our relationships with God the same way that my daughter defines her relationship with me. And that is persistent pursuing. May we always be people who find the greatest joy in the moments when we are “caught” by God because we charged at Him and He charged at us. Remember to keep your loyalties directed at God and not at the world. My daughter can’t run around the living room with me, if she’s busy coloring or playing with one of her toys. Neither can we run with God if our loyalties become skewed. Put Jesus first in your life. Make Him the priority of every day, no matter where your other “commitments” may take you. Charge at Him with reckless abandon and you’ll find that He’ll “catch” you and overwhelm you with His Presence, Love, Grace, Mercy, Joy and fulfillment.