On Spiritual Maturity

"The seed which fell among the thorns, these are the ones who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity.”

When examining the process of making disciples we must look at one goal of making disciples. One goal is to bring people from a place of no knowledge of God to a place of maturity in Christ. This place of maturity is one of the desired results of discipleship that is referred to in Scripture.

If one goal of discipleship is to bring people to maturity in Christ then how can we know when we are successful in making disciples instead of just making converts? Let's look at some of the characteristics of the spiritually mature.

In 1Cor. 2 Paul talks of speaking wisdom to the mature. It is a wisdom that is not of this world. This wisdom is not understood by many including the rulers of this age. Position and title does not equate to spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is a work of the Holy Spirit and is accomplished through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that produces maturity through the Pleroma of Christ. That is the fulness of all that Christ has for us. It is the ever present dwelling of the Spirit of Christ within us that allows us to operate in the spiritual above the physical. The spiritually mature is first and foremost subject to the Spirit.

Hebrews 5 and 6 speaks of moving on to maturity by leaving the elementary instructions and moving on. This moving on denotes that something must be left and something else must be attained in order to indicate spiritual maturity. The thing to leave is the elementary teachings. There is a time for foundational instruction but it is not something for those considered mature to be receiving. A sign of maturity is that they can now discern good and evil because by practice their senses have been trained to do it. Spiritual maturity requires an active and discerning practice of our faith.

Another indication of a mature disciple is the bearing of fruit. Jesus indicates that bearing fruit is how we prove to be His disciples. When we look at the difference between the spiritually mature and the babes in Christ, we can see the following characteristics.

Spiritually mature Christians are filled with the Pleroma of God, they have left the elementary teachings, they have moved on to an active faith being lived out in a process that practices discerning good from evil. They are actively involved in making new disciples. They have become teachers instead of only being learners. The spiritually mature understand a wisdom that is not of this world, they work in their spiritual gifts. The spiritually mature Christian bears fruit for Christ that is brought to spiritual maturity.

Have you become spiritually mature? Does your current faith community produce spiritually mature Christians?