S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

Spiritual maturity is achieved through becoming more like Jesus Christ. After salvation, every Christian begins the process of spiritual growth, with the intent to become spiritually mature. Accord...

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July 01 2013 • 3 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Ezekiel Kimosop Supporter

WHAT IS SPIRITUAL MATURITY? HOW CAN I BECOME MORE SPIRITUALLY MATURE?

By Ezekiel Kimosop

There is no express biblical definition for spiritual maturity but a number of scripture passages do convey this idea with clarity. It is instructive that spiritual maturity is a process rather than an event. No believer ever graduates from the school of spiritual growth but there are signs that manifestly affirm that the believer is mature and stable in their faith. 

How do we know that someone is spiritually mature? Let us examine some relevant passages. I will address this question from the context of the growth in the knowledge of Christ. 2 Timothy 3:15-17 reveals that Jewish religious training had a profound effect on the life of young Timothy and that Scripture is the principal instrument for spiritual instruction. 

In Ephesians 4, Paul lists down church ministry offices and declares that their purpose was to prepare and equip the saints, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: (Ephesians 4:13). 

This is the ideal position contemplated by Scripture. It conveys three dimensions of spiritual maturity. 

The first level is associated with the station in spiritual development where the believer is brought into the unity of the faith. This is the spiritual consciousness that every child of God experiences. They belong to the fellowship of believers within the context of the local and universal church. 

The second dimension is the growth of the believer's knowledge and intimacy with Christ. The believer discerns the Person of Jesus Christ and the purpose of His finished works of the cross. This is what Bible scholars refer to as sound Christological development. This can only come from the discipline of the effective and consistent study of the word of God and daily devotion to Christ by the leading of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13-15). 

One of my seminary professors once stated that there must be a healthy balance between the word and the Spirit. This implies that believers should not ignore the word of God at the expense of prayer. They shall grow into "prayer warriors" with little Scripture knowledge! 

Conversely, we should not neglect spiritual devotion and prayer at expense of the word, because this builds our intimacy with the Holy Spirit and grows our discernment. 

Spiritual maturity is the work in progress of an effective discipleship process in the hands of mature believers. Apollos was a beneficiary of this process (Acts 18:24-28). Sadly, poor discipleship accounts the heretical teachings that are are popularly embraced in Christian communities today.

A heretic teaches error and rejects biblical correction for it where it is legitimately offered. Faithful teachers handle biblical truth with godly fear and are careful to raise other leaders of their kind.

The third dimension can be wrapped up through a description of the end process. The mature believer grows to a measure of stature that manifests his fruitfulness in Christ (Galatians 5:22), as well as his firmness and confidence in knowing and handling the word of God such that he is no longer tossed about by all manner of doctrines and teachings that contradict Scripture (Ephesians 4:14). 

One of the signs of spiritual immaturity in a believer is the “nomadic” culture where they go about seeking a “new experience" or "new revelation” rather than faithfully sticking with a Bible believing church. Some eventually fall into heresy. 

In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul exhorts Timothy, saying, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”(KJV). While some have identified this verse with formal biblical training, the text does not exclusively render this context even though seminary training does carry some lifelong benefit. It speaks to diligence in the study of Scripture.

July 06 2014 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Supporter Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

Jesus described the process of spiritual development to maturity in Matthew 5:3-6. Then he described how a spiritually mature person would serve in the kingdom of God to transform the world in Matt 5:7-10. A Christian is not spiritually mature unless they are doing what Jesus did.

Maturity Step 1
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God."
We need to recognize and understand every day that we cannot do anything of eternal value for the kingdom unless we remain connected to Jesus - as he described in John 15:4-8 - like a branch remaining connected to the cine. When we stop being poor in spirit (humbling ourselves) we become proud and independant - useless to the kingdom of God.

Maturity Step 2
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."
The greatest impediment to spiritual growth is the presence of sin in our lives. We need to have a spirit that mourns our sinfulness so we are ever diligent to identify the sin that creeps in, confess it, repent of it, and receive Jesus cleansing for a fresh start. This sensitivity will also guard our hearts and minds when temptations come, before we have a chance to fall into sin. God comforts us with his forgiveness, his cleansing and by clothing us with his robes of righteousness.

Maturity Step 3
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth."
The Greek word that Jesus used for "meek" is a peculiar word. The most common usage of this word in 1st century life referred to "a fully trained war horse". So a better translation might be "Blessed are the fully trained,for they will inherit the earth. Jesus said he only did the works he saw his Father doing and only spoke the words his Father gave him to say- he was trained by his Father in Heaven. Jesus is our trainor and we must constantly be willing to surrender to his leadership so we can benefit every day from the lessons he is teaching and practice sessions we are given.

Maturity Step 4
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied (filled)."
When the greatest desire of our hearts, all the time, is to be in the presence of God - living in obedience to his will - then we hunger and thirst for his righteousness. God is pleased to satisfy our desires by filling us with his Holy Spirit. This is the abundant life that Jesus promised. What can be more fulfilling than the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). It is the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit that enables us to complete the good works that God prepared in advance for us to do.

Kingdom Service Step 1
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy".
When our spiritual eyes are open to see the needs in the world around us, the compassion of Jesus leads us to reach out with the love of God and do what we can to help meet those needs. We quickly realize how limited our resources are so we naturally give these needs to God in prayer. God is pleased to use us to deliver his merciful blessings as the expression of his boundless love.

Kingdom Service Step 2
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God".
When we are growing in maturity our purity (holiness) is evident for the world to see. People can actually begin to see who Jesus is and start to understand his mission in the world. Our personal purity is a powerful witness and attraction to drawing people into the kingdom of God.

Kingdom Service Step 3
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
Once we have experienced the peace of God and are being filled with peace by the Holy Spirit, it is only natural that this peace will spill over into the lives of others in our circle of influence. We will want people we know to find peace with God by accepting his gift of salvation. We will help people make peace with each other, saving marriages and restoring friendships.

Kingdom Service Step 4
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
When we are maturing spiritually to the point where we are engaging in the activity of the kingdom - loving and blessing others, demonstrating purity and holiness, bringing peace to the world, we will inevitably clash with the forces of evil. Our actions for God are pushing back their kingdom and the will fight to resist us. The more we mature we will also have the spiritual discernment to see what evil is doing around us. We will know where to take our stand and how to advance the cause of God's goodness while pushing back the presence and power of evil. 

Spiritual maturity is what we were created and saved for. So we could be God's agents to redeem the world he created. Through us God is transforming his world to look more like he intended at creation. This is a foretaste for us of what his new creation will be like in the new Heaven and new Earth.

December 16 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Daniel Veler Supporter

Many believe spiritual maturity is growing in faith. They believe the more faith they have means they are becoming more mature in Christ. It is true the more understanding God gives you the stronger you’ll stand.

The question that needs to be addressed is how faith is increased. The scriptures tell us that Faith comes by hearing the word of God. 

Romans 10: 17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Then we read in John 6: 45: It is written in the prophets, "And they shall be all taught of God." Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.

Just as Peter was revealed or taught by God that Christ was his Son, is how we are taught also. One man can preach the word of God and another may come along and water the word, but it is God who gives the increase. He gives us the understanding. 

Some become discouraged when they try to measure their faith by what Christ told his apostles, that if they had faith the size of a mustard seed they could say to a mountain, "Cast yourself into the sea and it would be done." Like many today, the apostles became discouraged because they did not understand what Christ was revealing to them. I would venture to say that there is no one that has the amount of faith the size of a mustard seed. The mustard seed was never meant to measure your faith but to reveal just how little faith God requires to be saved.

It is written that God gives every person a measure of faith as he wills. Not everyone is given the same measure. Roman 12: 3: For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Maturity comes with the fruits of the Holy Spirit. God puts in us His love, His faith, His peace. All the fruits of the Spirit are the very essence of the Father himself. When we walk in the fruits of the Holy Spirit our maturity grows and all the world will see we walk in the light of God.

March 10 2024 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report