Going on to Maturity

Fifty2 Sunday's ~ Listening4God

        The minister introduced the sermon saying that a new study in Philippians was beginning that day and over the course of the coming weeks, they would delve into the book with the goal of discerning what it takes to mature in Christ.  I have been thinking about the subject of growing up in Christ, so I was interested in what he would say. 

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     "...being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus"

 (Philippians 1:6)  (NIV)

        This is the tip off verse.  Just like there is a tip-off at the start of a basketball game, this verse starts the discussion about going on to maturity.  Firstly, it says that God is involved in doing a good work in me (you) and that he will not stop until it is complete.  I find this both encouraging and comforting. 

        So how do we become mature?  What is involved? 

"In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again.  You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone

who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”  (Hebrews 5:12-14)  (NIV)

   

    "Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God,"

 (Hebrews 6:1)  (NIV)

        

       While we never want to let go of the foundational principles of the Christian faith, in order to grow, we have to dig into the scriptures and seek out teaching and preaching that will help guide us into a deeper understanding.  Maturity will not occur, if we only "listen" and fail to apply (James 1:22) and/or if we allow "life's worries, riches and pleasures" (Luke 8:14) to stifle the wisdom that we gain.

        If there were a means test for maturation, it would have to do with the steadfastness and unity of our faith in the context of the body of Christ: 

"...so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.  Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.  Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ."  (Ephesians 4:12-15)  (NIV)

The desire to mature - is about "attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (above) because "...in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness" (Colossians 2:9 & 10).  In closing, the prayer below has the keys to gaining this fullness.  I encourage each reader to substitute himself or herself where the word 'you' is:

"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you (me) with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your (my) hearts through faith.  And I pray that you (I), being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you (I) may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

 (Ephesians 3:16-19)  (NIV)