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Spiritual
Maturity...when does it come?
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Received a most intriguing question the other day. The person
asked if when he was baptized and received the Holy Spirit, was he also
given full knowledge of the Bible, the Word of God? That is, was
he made to have knowledge, wisdom and understanding on a wide-ranging
array of biblical concepts and principles? Let us explore this
most interesting subject for a moment.
We know that without the Holy Spirit, one cannot understand spiritual
things. One must have the Holy Spirit to be spiritually discerned
[to have discernment of spiritual things - 1 Corinthians 2:14]. We also know from 1 John 2:20 that we
have "unction" of the Holy Spirit and know all things (pertaining to
Salvation). What the latter scripture is saying is that through
the working of the Spirit of God, we can attain knowledge and
understanding of those things regarding Salvation and the Salvation
Process.
The important thing to know about God, whether from the Bible or nature
[Romans 1:20] is that everything is a process. The life cycle of a
flower, a human life or the building of a Golden Gate Bridge are
processes which have timelines. Saving a miracle, things do not
appear overnight. This is true within the Salvation Process and
all of the other spiritual sub-processes we could enumerate.
Scripture speaks to the sin process, growing in faith and knowledge and
the process of repentance and overcoming sin. People often
frustrate themselves by applying themselves to the end product of a
process rather than to the process that brings that end product.
Firstfruits sometimes feel guilty if the sin they are battling is not
overcome overnight. If individuals are unaware of the process or
neglect in applying themselves to it, they will never attain their
goals. The Bible offers many examples of spiritual process.
Paul, in speaking of Abraham wrote...
And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead,
when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of
Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief;
but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. –Romans 4:19-20
We see from this passage that there are both weak and strong in the
faith. The strong in faith know that spiritual maturity is a
process and diligently apply themselves to it, one hour at a time, one
day at a time, one week at a time throughout their lives.
When Paul, in outlining Timothy's duties as a new minister and speaking
to performing ordinations said...
Lay hands suddenly on no man. –1 Timothy 5:22. This means that the
church was to take its time and look for men and women strong in the
faith and who have had time in the faith before performing the
ordination. Notice several scriptures that indicated timelines and
process [time in the faith]:
For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold
the beginning of our confidence stedfast
unto the end. –Hebrews 3:14
But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we
hold fast the confidence and the
rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
–Hebrews 3:6
And we desire that every one of you do shew the same
diligence to the full assurance of
hope unto the end.
–Hebrews 6:11
For your fellowship in the gospel from the
first day until now; Being confident of this very thing, that
he which hath begun a good work in
you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ. –Philippians 1:5-6
If ye continue in the faith grounded
and settled, and be not moved away from
the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to
every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.
–Colossians 1:23
But he that shall endure unto the end,
the same shall be saved. –Matthew 24:13
Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to
continue in the faith, and that we
must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
–Acts 14:22
To them who by patient continuance
in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life.
–Romans 2:7
Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul
shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto
perdition; but of them that believe to the
saving of the soul. –Hebrews 10:38-39
I remember a sermon from my first month in the church back in 1971 in
Seattle. The minister made a comment about spiritual maturity that
shocked me at the time. He said something like; "You individuals
who have been in the faith for twenty years or so may think that you
know it all. Well, I am here to tell you this isn't necessarily
so." My thoughts at the time were, "Wow, anyone in the faith for
twenty years must be just this side of perfection." It was not
until January of 1991 and being twenty years in the faith myself that I
fully understood what the minister meant in that sermon.
I told the person who asked me about spiritual maturity that it was my
experience and observation that firstfruits don't hit their spiritual
strides until after twenty years, depending on their age and natural
maturity at baptism. God generally takes His time in molding the
minds and hearts of His chosen saints. God worked with Moses for
80 years before he received his primary mission. Could God have
prepared Moses instantly or in six months or a year? Clearly He
could have. But just as clearly, this was and is not His will.
He prefers to draw out the Salvation Process throughout the appointed
days of a person's life from calling to death. Consider that the
Second Resurrection period is calculated to be approximately one-hundred
years in length.
The person who asked me spoke specifically to Bible knowledge and how
much understanding he would have from the day of baptism. The best
way to answer this, besides our entire discussion on the concept of
process is to show that the Word of God is without limits or depth.
The Word of God is Spirit [Ephesians 6:17] and Spirit has no limits. As
humans we are gaining more and more understanding of God's Word all
through our spiritual lives. This will continue into the Kingdom
of God. To truly have Bible knowledge and understanding one must
immerse themselves into the scripture with some fervency and
diligence. Like so many things with God, full immersion, fervency and
diligence are lifelong processes themselves. If we make them
habits, they will result in spiritual maturity.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye
stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord,
forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
–1 Corinthians 15:58
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