I found a poem on the internet that I would like to share with you. It bears some striking resemblances to a very well-known poem. Listen carefully, though, because it is not quite the poem that you might expect.
One night, I had a wondrous dream;
One set of footprints there was seen.
The footprints of my precious Lord,
But mine were not along the shore.
But then some stranger prints appeared,
And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?"
"Those prints are large and round and neat,
But, Lord, they are too big for feet."
"My child," He said in somber tones.
"For miles I carried you alone.
I challenged you to walk in faith,
But you refused and made me wait.
You disobeyed, you would not grow,
The walk-of-faith you would not know.
So I got tired and fed up,
And there I dropped you on your butt,
Because in life, there comes a time,
When one must fight, and one must climb,
When one must rise and take a stand,
Or leave their butt prints in the sand."
(Author unknown. Found at sermoncentral.com.)
What does it mean to fight and climb, to rise and take a stand, to take the walk of faith? What does it mean to follow where the Lord leads, not satisfied to stay in one place but striving to be on the move—stretching…growing…maturing?
Coming to know Christ is like being born again. In John 3:3, Jesus tells Nicodemus: “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
Paul expands on this: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Like any newborn baby, babes in Christ are expected to grow. It’s not a requirement for entering the family, but it is the hope and expectation that every member of the family will grow towards maturity.
Babies grow at their own pace. Some learn to crawl and then to walk by the time they are eight months old. Some crawl for a long, long time before they are ready to take their first tentative steps along the edge of the couch. Some never crawl at all, but get around by scooting and squirming until they are ready to stand up and walk.
Babies grow at their own pace, but they grow. When they stop growing, stop maturing, stop stretching out for new challenges and new skills, then we worry, because something isn’t working the way it is supposed to.
It’s the same way with babes in Christ.
Paul is concerned that the Corinthian believers have stopped growing, that they aren’t growing up as they should. “Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults” (1 Corinthians 14:20).
It is the hope and expectation that every member of the family will grow towards maturity. In the case of Christians, full maturity is never reached until we join Christ in heaven, so the expectation of continued growth never goes away. Ours is a life-long journey of stretching, and growing, and maturing.
What does it mean for a Christian to grow towards maturity?
It means to attain “to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). It means to, "be conformed to the likeness of Christ" (Romans 8:29). It means to become more and more like Jesus.
Yes, that’s a tall order. That’s why we must never stop stretching, never stop growing, never stop maturing.
Why is it important for believers to mature? If seeing the kingdom of God has to do with being reborn by the Spirit, why is it important to mature? If even babes in Christ are in Christ, then why is it important to mature?
The Bible is amazingly consistent about why it is important for believers to mature. Besides the fact that growth is simply a normal expectation for babies…besides the fact that it pleases God to see his children grow…it is important for believers to mature for three related reasons: 1-so that we do not stray, 2-so that we do not lead others astray, and 3-so that we can come to the aid of brothers and sisters who are still immature and who may be tempted to wander astray.
The Letter to the Colossians includes these words: “My purpose is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments” (Colossians 2:2-4).
As the Letter to the Colossians closes with final greetings, the point is made again: “Epaphras, who is one of you [one of the Colossian Christians] and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Colossians 4:12).
The Letter to the Hebrews includes this admonition: “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).
Peter cautions his readers (and us): “Dear friends, …be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the errors of lawless men and fall from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:17-18).
And Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians emphasizes the point: “Then [as we mature] 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 men in their deceitful scheming” (Ephesians 4:14).
What does it mean to fight and climb, to rise and take a stand, to take the walk of faith? What does it mean to follow where the Lord leads, not satisfied to stay in one place but striving to be on the move—stretching…growing… maturing?
What are the marks of maturity?
The first mark of maturity we’ve noted already: discernment, the ability to distinguish good from evil, the ability to tell the difference between truth and error.
When a person first comes to faith in Jesus Christ, whether as a little child or as an adult, he probably doesn’t know the Bible very well. He knows what his society and culture have taught him about right and wrong; he is not yet informed enough to evaluate where his society and culture are in line with biblical teachings and where they are at odds. Even as he begins to learn what the Bible teaches, he may not yet be mature enough to stand firm before societal pressures to conclude that the Bible is wrong and society is right. Even as he begins to develop confidence in God’s Word, he may not have the experience to apply that Word correctly to situations he faces in this world.
That’s ok. That is to be expected. Babies have to learn to crawl (or scoot) before they can learn to walk.
It is a mark of maturity to come to greater understanding of God’s Word and God’s Will, so that fine-sounding arguments do not deceive and we are not blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
The second mark of maturity goes hand in hand with the first: perseverance. It means little to know the difference between truth and error if one is unable to stand for the truth regardless of what comes.
Epaphras was always wrestling in prayer for the Colossian believers that they might stand firm—that they might persevere—in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.
James even teaches that facing trials is good for developing maturity. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).
Do you remember Jesus’ parable about the sower and the seeds? A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some fell along the path, some fell on rock, some fell among thorns, and some seed fell on good soil. When Jesus explains the parable to his disciples, it becomes clear that the fundamental difference between the seed that fell on good soil and the seed that did not is that the seed that fell on good soil matured and persevered. There are many reasons why seed might not grow, but the seed that does grow “stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a good crop” (Luke 8:15).
Perseverance is not a trait that emerges fully developed in the new Christian. That’s ok. That is to be expected. Toddlers are unsteady on their feet. They fall easily and frequently. It’s all part of learning to walk.
In one of his books, Lee Strobel quotes Gary Parker: “If faith never encounters doubt, if truth never struggles with error, if good never battles with evil, how can faith know its own power? In my own pilgrimage, if I have to choose between a faith that has stared doubt in the eye and made it blink, or a naïve faith that has never known the firing line of doubt, I will choose the former every time” (Gary Parker as quoted by Lee Strobel, The Case for Faith [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000], 243. Found at sermoncentral.com).
It is a mark of maturity to develop perseverance, so that we might stand firm in all the will of God.
The third mark of maturity is humility, which includes the desire to continue striving to mature.
When I was approaching the end of my long journey in graduate school towards a Ph.D., my fellow students and I used to wax philosophical now and then about out experience of education.
When we were seniors in high school, we were pretty much convinced that we knew everything worth knowing. Ask us a question, any question, and we could certainly answer it.
While we were in college, we learned a little humility, so that when we were seniors again we humbly concluded that we pretty much knew everything there was to know about our major subject. Again, ask us a question, any question in our major, and we could certainly answer it.
Then we went on for a Master’s degree and were humbled once again. As we completed our Master’s theses, we realized that we only knew most everything there was to know about our specific specialty. We were tested, of course, on our specialty to make sure that we could answer any and all related questions.
Then we became Ph.D. students. And the years went by. And the more we learned, the more we realized we did not know. Oh, we had lots of answers by that time, but we had lots more questions. Always before we had been awarded our degrees when we had enough answers. Now we were evaluated on our ability to seek answers, while always asking more questions.
Maturing as a follower of Jesus Christ is like that. The closer we grow to Jesus, the more we realize just how far we fall short.
Paul described it this way: “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” And Paul goes on to say, “All of us who are mature should take such a view of things” (Philippians 3:12-15).
A sure sign of immaturity is the belief that I have attained maturity. Maturing as a believer means becoming more and more like Jesus. I’m going to need my whole lifetime just to head in that general direction.
“Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (James 3:13).
It is a mark of maturity to press ever onwards toward growth, being encouraged by how far we have come, but acknowledging with humility just how far there is to go.
The fourth mark of maturity goes beyond the individual believer to the body as a whole. It is a mark of maturity to grow into taking responsibility to build up other believers.
Paul explains to the Ephesian church that the whole point that some believers are gifted to be apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors and teachers is “to prepare God’s people for works of service, 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” (Ephesians 4:11-13).
The body is only as mature as its most immature members. It is the responsibility of not only of leaders but of all more mature Christians to support and encourage and build up less mature Christians.
Paul writes to the Galatians, “If someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual [or spiritually mature] should restore him gently” (Galatians 6:1).
In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes that their dissension—their behaviors that tear each other down instead of build each other up—are signs of immaturity. “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly?” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3).
Peter agrees. He advises his readers to “rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind [behaviors that tear each other down instead of build each other up]. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation” (1 Peter 3:1-2).
Babies have enough challenge focusing on their own faltering steps. That’s ok. That’s to be expected. But have you ever watched a toddler with a newborn baby brother or sister? They can hardly wait to share their hard-won wisdom.
That’s how it is with Christians. You don’t have to be a paragon of maturity to build up a brother or a sister. You just need to be one step farther along in one area. In fact, sometimes the best teachers for brand new Christians are young Christians—those who still remember the challenge and the joy of those first hesitant steps.
A mark of maturity is the willingness and the readiness to take on more and more responsibility to build up other believers.
What does it mean to fight and climb, to rise and take a stand, to take the walk of faith? What does it mean to follow where the Lord leads, not satisfied to stay in one place but striving to be on the move—stretching…growing…maturing?
The first mark of maturity to come to greater understanding of God’s Word and God’sWill and greater ability to distinguish truth from error.
The second mark of maturity to develop perseverance, so that we might stand firm in all the Will of God.
The third mark of maturity is to press ever onwards toward growth, being encouraged by how far we have come, but acknowledging with humility just how far there is to go.
The fourth mark of maturity is the willingness and the readiness to take on more and more responsibility to build up other believers.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
