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| Photo Courtesy: Keystone Church |
Nse laid on her bed weeping all night. She
felt totally disappointed at herself. It was only a week ago that she had given
her life to Christ. Now here she was being chewed off by guilt.
“Why did I do it
God? Why didn’t I leave when you asked me to? Why did I listen to him?” She
kept asking.
She picked up her
bible in a bid to hear from the Lord but all she could hear was the loud voice
of accusation slamming at her, “You never really changed. It’s all a lie. Who
told you someone like you can ever make it to heaven? You are used to Sin and
you would never stop” the voice kept declaring.
It was then her
eyes found the verse “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John
1:9
Immediately, She
got on her knees and said, “Lord I confess that I have sinned by Kissing Ade.
Please forgive me and cleanse me from this unrighteousness by the blood of
Jesus Christ.”
“Believe that I
have forgiven you”, whispered the small still voice….
THE
TRUE CONCEPT OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND MATURITY
Growth is often
used interchangeably with maturity. However when we talk about them in relation
to the physical world, our listener is able to decipher which of the words we
meant to use.
See these
descriptions below,
Frederick was 4
feet, 2 inches tall when he was 11 years old. Now He is 15years old and is 5
feet, 7 inches tall. This increase in height is a perfect description of
growth.
When Frederick was
11 years old, He didn’t know how to express himself whenever He was confronted
by a bully. Now that He’s turned 15, he has learnt to engage a bully in an
intelligent conversation that turns them into friends.
The first
description talks about increase in size which is referred to as growth while
the second talks about development in the use of an ability/ skill
(communication skill). This development is referred to as maturity.
Can you think of
other examples which show the difference between growth and maturity?
In Psychology, Growth
is the physical process of development, particularly the process of
becoming physically larger. It is quantifiable, meaning that it can be
measured, and it is mostly influenced by genetics. On the other hand, maturity
is the physical, intellectual, or emotional process of development. Maturity is
often not quantifiable, and it too is mostly influenced by genetics.
While growth is
physical, maturity is physical, intellectual, or emotional. Often, maturation
involves two or even all three1.
Spiritual growth
can be confused for maturity. Therefore in Spirichology (found only in my
dictionary though), Growth is increase in the grace, wisdom and understanding
of the Love of God while Maturity is the degree of similitude in the
development of the personality and character of Jesus Christ (How alike are you
to the person and nature of Christ)?
For example, Oluchi
has been saved for the past 10 years and has risen to be a youth pastor in her
local assembly (Church). Meanwhile, Oluchi is yet to imbibe fundamental
behavioural patterns that model a Christ-like individual (Christian).
Oluchi steals from
the church offering, lies at every given opportunity; would you say she is a
mature believer? I bet you said no but she is definitely “grown” by man’s
standard because she pastors the youths.
#RollingMyEyes
As men, we often
assume that an increase in church ranking or spiritual activities is a proof of
growth. Even though these things could be signs of growth, they are not always
a sure proof that an individual has grown in the Lord or is mature.
2 peter 3:17-18
says, “Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your
guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall
from your secure position. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Why would Apostle
Peter say grow in Grace and Knowledge? It is because a genuine growth in these
areas will definitely produce a commensurate level of maturity.
Now why do you
think Oluchi who has become a youth pastor continues to lie and steal?
It is either she
was never born again (remember that playing church isn’t the same as accepting
Jesus as LORD and SAVIOUR) or she hasn’t grown to understand what the grace of
God is for nor does she know much about how seriously God frowns at such an
act.
Read: 7 Things To Do When You Feel Spiritually weak
Read: 7 Things To Do When You Feel Spiritually weak
WHAT EXACTLY DOES
IT MEAN TO GROW IN THE GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF GOD?
Most people think
this verse was referring to a growth in manifestation of spiritual gifts which
they wrongly term “anointing”. Others assume it means to gain more “grace “from
God.
The greek word for
Grace is Xaris (transliterated as Charis), pronounced Khar‟-ece.
It refers to God’s inclination (natural character) to reach out to a person
because He is disposed to help/bless them2.
From the above, we
can see that Grace is whom God is. Grace isn’t just something He does. It is
His person.
God’s grace never
increases; it is infinite, it cannot be more, and according to the nature of
God, it could never be less3.
He gave His only
Son so that whoever believes in Him should be saved (John 3:16). How much more
grace could there possibly be than that?
To grow in grace is
to grow in our understanding of what Jesus did on the cross, in the grave and
at resurrection for us and to grow in our appreciation of the grace (unto
salvation) we have been given.
The more we learn
about what it costed Jesus to willingly become the atonement for our sins by
risking his position as a member of the God-Head (a term for God the father,
Son and HolySpirit collectively) to become Sin (2 Corinthians 5:21) the more we
will appreciate all He has done, His love, sacrifice for us and truly
appreciate the never-ending grace (disposition of God to favour us).
On the other hand,
the word Knowledge is transliterated epignosis, pronounced as spelt. It
refers to a recognition, perception or discernment of a person or thing through
first hand relationship4.
So when Apostle
Peter says, “grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ”, He is asking us to commit
to knowing Christ from a firsthand experience
.
In plain English, 2
Peter 3:17-18 can be written as
“Therefore, dear
friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not
be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure
position. But grow
in the grace (your awareness of the nature of God to reach out to you to
help/bless you) and knowledge (firsthand experience of who JESUS is) of
our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.”
Does it make any
sense yet?
Apostle Peter told
us this because, Commitment to Spiritual
Maturity is dependent on our awareness of God‟s
willingness to help us and how much of His nature, ability and personality we
have been exposed to/ encountered.
This awareness and
encounter would prepare, inspire and equip us to submit to God so much that we
die daily to the flesh.
A good example of
how this works can be seen in the life of Jacob. He was a deceiver and often
got what he wanted by cheating others but when He encountered (got a firsthand
experience of God‟s all sufficient
ability to make a man) God at Bethel, he seized to be a deceiver (Genesis
32:22-32)
When we know How
willing and able God is to help us walk in righteousness, we would commit to
the process (all the things God uses to spur us to growth and maturity) of
spiritual maturation.
“It is God who
works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose”.
Philippians 2:13
Read: Betrayed
Read: Betrayed
SO WHAT IS THE GOAL
OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND MATURITY?
The goal of
Spiritual growth and maturity isn’t for us to parade titles or brag about the
manifestation of our spiritual gifts. It is also not for us to make heaven
because heaven is definitely where the saved would go. It is for us to become
like Jesus Christ!
These Scriptures
confirms it,
"But we all,
with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" 2
Corinthians 3:18
“But speaking the
truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even
Christ” Ephesians 4:15
When you become
born again the nature of God is born in you.
Now even though the
nature of God is born in us at salvation, we still need to learn to act in
consistency with our genes/identity.
Therefore, if the
reason you want to “grow” in your Christian walk is so that you can become
daddy G.O or mummy G.O of a ministry? You’ve missed it before you begun.
True Spiritual growth and maturity is impossible without
becoming aware of the Grace and Person of Christ.
The revelation of
the grace and knowledge of Christ humbles a person. It makes you forever
indebted to an amazing God and leaves you willing to go through anything for
His sake. It doesn’t inflate you into becoming an ambitious, self conceited
individual.
Read: Is Jesus Really The Only Way To God?
Read: Is Jesus Really The Only Way To God?
THE STAGES OF
SPIRITUAL MATURITY
When a child is
born, it takes a while for him/her to get to the fullness of his/her capabilities.
For some, they grow faster than their pairs while others mature faster than
their pairs. These differences can be seen in their heights, sexual secondary
characteristics and in their behaviours.
What are the Stages
of Spiritual Maturity?
Let’s zoom in on 1
John 2:12-14(AMP)
I am writing to
you/I have written to you who are God’s children
·
Because yours sins have been forgiven through Jesus.
·
Because you know the father
I am writing to
you/I have written to you who are mature in the faith
·
Because you know Christ who existed from the beginning
·
Because you know Christ who existed from the beginning
I am writing to
you/I have written to you who are young in faith
·
Because you have won your battle with the evil one.
·
Because you are strong
·
Because God’s word lives in your heart
I arranged them
that way so we can easily pick out the points. The first time, Apostle John
said I am writing and next he said I have written. So our version is kinda
merged for the purpose of clarity.
From the above
scripture, we can safely assume that there are 3 stages of Spiritual growth and
maturity- Childhood, Youth and
Fatherhood. If you read the King James Version of this verse, you will see
the words, “I write to you fathers in
place of “mature in faith” as seen
in Amplified version above.
The Childhood
Stage:
This is the first
stage. We enter this stage by accepting and confessing Jesus Christ as Lord and
saviour (Refer to Module 1). The major identity of those in this stage is
1.
They are forgiven
2. They know the
father
Why did Apostle John describe this group as such?
Firstly, it is because forgiveness of
Sin by the blood of Christ is what qualifies us to be called children of God.
So everyone who has Jesus is a Child of God irrespective of your maturity
level.
Secondly, when we become born again, the
first awareness we grab is the reality of God as our father. He provides,
leads, counsels, protects and leads us by His Holy Spirit.
In the physical
realm, a child’s first awareness is his/her mother. She is the one who
provides, protects and spends time with the baby. As this happens, the child
gets attached to the mother. In the Spiritual realm, God the father does for us
all a mother would do for a child and with time, we become attached to Him.
Remember the
excitement you felt from spending time with God in prayer, reading the bible
and doing things that could bring you closer to God? The joy you felt each time
your prayers were answered and did you notice that they were answered speedily?
Just as a mom
hurries to her crying baby, that’s how God (Our Father) quickly attends to
spiritual babies. Their prayers get answered quickly because God is nursing
their faith unto growth!
Characteristics of Spiritual Children
1. Zeal without knowledge: Here one is
filled with so much passion and zeal for the work. Many make mistakes even
though they had good intentions. For example, a spiritual babe who just got
saved might want to go witness to her unbelieving boyfriend. Only for her to
get there He presses all her old buttons and they have sex. At this point, she
might blame the devil but it was a matter of zeal without knowledge. How can
you go witness to an old boyfriend alone, in the privacy of a room where you
once defiled each other? Don’t you know that our souls and bodies respond to
the familiar?
Another case could
be when a new convert goes to a shrine in his community to uproot their moulded
images. He hasn’t learnt the principles of spiritual warfare such as legal
grounds, legal holds, confrontation and the effective use of the blood of
Christ. Therefore, doing a thing like that is inviting trouble. A mature believer
who has been trained in spiritual warfare would need to help him out.
2. Fear: Even though the baby Christian
has the spirit of God in Him, He might still demonstrate fear towards the
powers of darkness, the future, the past catching up with him/her, fear of not
lasting in the faith and so on. The truth is all of these fears are rooted in
one major weakness called ignorance.
3. Ignorance: The long time
enemy of man. The baby Christian is yet to learn about his spiritual authority
in Christ, how to apply the word to situations, how to have faith in God, how
to make declarations that gets honoured, how to decipher when a Spirit is of
God or not of God. Ignorance is responsible for a lot of our problems in this
Christian race.
4. Easily Deceived/Simple Minded: A
stranger can deceive a child into believing his parents sent him to pick up the
child. He offers the child Ice-cream and whisks him off. Soon the child
realizes he had been kidnapped. The same thing happens to spiritual babies, one
human being comes from the blues claiming to have been sent by God. He offers
prophecies and other incentives. Soon the spiritual child forgets that God is
His source and begins to rely on the “Prophet”. The spiritual child wrongly
assumes that everyone tells the truth and so believes anyone or anything that
claims to be from God.
5. Demanding: Babies are always in need.
Their mother breast feeds them and they doze off. As soon as she attempts to
lay them in bed they scream because they prefer her arms. They don’t think
about their mother’s need neither notice that she hasn’t slept in days because
of them. Spiritual babies are always placing demands on God. They say things
like, “God if you don’t do this, I will go back to the world” or “God If you do
it for me, I will serve you forever”. These manipulative prayers are mere
childishness. They don’t know that God can’t be neither manipulated nor
cajoled. He responds to his word and his principles not our conditions.
Spiritual babies are attached to the gifts not the
giver. They love the blessings not the Lord actually. They don’t know the Lord
enough to love Him for who He is so they love Him for what they get.
The Youth Stage:
After a while, the
spiritual child grows into a youth! Now let me make something clear. Growth in
the spirit realm has nothing to do with age. So you can be 9 years old and a
spiritual youth or be 58 years old and a spiritual baby. However, growth takes
time. For some its speedy for others it’s at a reasonable rate and for another,
it could be extremely slow such that God hurts.
The major identity
of those in the youth stage is
·
They have won their battle with the evil one.
·
They are strong
·
God’s word lives in their heart
1. They’ve won their battles:
What battle is Apostle John referring to? He is talking about the battle to
stand in holiness. Unlike the spiritual child who falls in and out of sin, the
spiritual youth has gained stability in areas where he used to fall. He
understands the word and knows how to apply it to situations.
2. They are strong: A spiritual youth
can embark on lengthy fast, pray for long nights, study the word endlessly,
evangelize aggressively and make sacrifices at all levels for God. Their faith
is on a high range and they do amazing exploits in the name of the Lord
3. God’s word lives in their heart:
These ones are full of the word. They know what scripture fits any situation.
Even if they can’t remember the exact chapter, they know what the word says.
Please note that Scripture memorization has nothing to do with God or special
spiritual gifts. It is a function of training your mind to remember chapters
and verses the same way you memorize your school work.
Although this group
appears to have everything going for them on an A-scale, they still lack
maturity; they will need to learn lessons of perseverance, longsuffering and a
whole lot.
They could begin to
feel that because they hear from God and do exploits in His name, they do not
need to submit themselves to authority, or even correction. This can be
extremely dangerous, as Hebrews 13:17 advices, "Obey them that have the
rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they
that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for
that is unprofitable for you"
The Fatherhood
Stage:
In addressing these
ones, Apostle John says,
I am writing to
you/I have written to you who are mature in the faith
·
Because you know Christ who existed from the beginning
·
Because you know Christ who existed from the beginning
Did you notice the
repetition? Trust me, It wasn’t because He didn’t know how else to describe a
mature Christian. It was because the Knowledge of Christ is the true test and
proof of spiritual maturity.
Just before you
misunderstand me, Remember that earlier we established the truth that the purpose or goal of spiritual growth is
to become like Christ. We also saw that one way to become like Him was to
get to know Him intimately (First-hand experience).
Did you recall
that?
Good!
Now when the bible
talks about knowing God, it is different from knowing all the scriptures off
hand, studying all the theology, typology, eschatology and ethics of ministry.
Knowing God refers
to an encounter with the person, nature and character of God such that you
become like Him. This is actually what I mean by a first-hand experience.
I‟m
not saying that studying theology and the others aren‟t
necessary. No way!
I have my bachelors
in Theology and Christian Education and a Diploma in Ministerial Counseling
after all.
So yes please, you
should study. However, I’m saying if you have all that “knowledge” and the
character of God is still far from been formed in you, you really don’t know
Christ yet.
I didn’t say that,
Apostle John did!
Why would Apostle John directly associate spiritual maturity
with Knowledge?
It is because you
can only yield to God and His process to the extent that you know Him.
Knowledge (Epignosis) is what helps us bear when He doesn’t do what we are
expecting.
The knowledge of His love would help
you trust Him through the changing seasons of life.
The knowledge of His power would help
you fear no evil.
The knowledge of His wisdom will help
you trust and obey every instruction.
The knowledge of His sovereignty
will help you go on when you’re disappointed.
The knowledge of His nature will help
you walk consistently in holiness.
Fathers have been
through severe tests and experiences; they are wiser and can tell a false
Spirit from the Spirit of God.
They are not easily
swayed by doctrines.
They are rooted and
deeply grounded in the love of and knowledge of Christ.
See this,
Ade is married to
Gloria. He moves to London after a year in search of greener pasture, leaving
Ada behind.
Gloria has the
habit of keeping to herself when she is deeply worried about anything.
Three years later,
Ade returns and notices that his wife is acting withdrawn. He gets frustrated
and yells at her because He expects her to be all around him since he hasn’t
been around in years.
Gloria feels really
hurt that Ade is yelling. She was expecting him to gently ask and pamper her
until she is able to open up. Instead he is yelling and acting frustrated with
her.
Ade goes out to be
with his friends and brings up his wife’s attitude for discussion.
His friend Jude
explains that his wife does that when she is strongly bothered and doesn’t know
how to share it with him. Jude advices that he cuddles her and assures that he
loves her and would help her with anything that might be on her mind.
Ade goes home, puts
Jude’s advice to play and His wife opens up about how Ade’s mum called to
threaten her about having a child.
It’s only been 3
weeks since Ade returned and his mother is already on Gloria’s neck.
If Ade truly knew
his wife, would he have yelled at her when he noticed she was withdrawn?
If Gloria had been
assured that her husband would help her with anything including standing up to
his mother, would she have withdrawn?
In marriage,
understanding a spouse comes from “knowing” the person. The same goes in our
relationship with God.
You can’t
understand a God you don’t know and you can’t know Him from a distance like the
one between Ade and Gloria.
Fathers have spent time with God.
Their experiences and dealings with Him have built them up in the faith such
that they model patience, meekness,
integrity and other fruits of righteousness.
Read: Realms Of Glory
Read: Realms Of Glory
Why then do we have
fathers who aren’t good examples of the character of Christ?
The work of the
Holyspirit in the life of a believer is a continuous one. Even though God
reveals Himself to us as we draw near, it is our responsibility to yield to the
HolySpirit for Him to perfect us. We shall be made perfect when we finally go
to be with the Lord.
1 John 3:2, “… but
we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
is”.
The fact that you
have become a spiritual father doesn‟t
mean you are automatically resistant to sin and the wiles of the enemy.
Therefore since we hope to see Christ the reason we began the Christian growth
experience, we have to purify ourselves from flesh and the world often by the
blood of Jesus.
1 John 1:3,
“Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure”.
Further
Reading:
1. Natalie Boyd
(2003) Psychology 107:Life Span Development http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-development-growth-maturation-learning.html
(accessed October 26th 2015)
2. Strong's
Concordance http://biblehub.com/greek/5485.htm (accessed October 26th 2015)
3. Got Questions
(2002) http://www.gotquestions.org/grow-in-grace.html (accessed October 26th
2015)
4. Strong's Concordance http://biblehub.com/greek/1922.htm
(accessed October 26th 2015)
©2015 Excerpted from THE
G.O.A.D Sessions at THE BIRTHPLACE MENTORING SCHOOL (BPMS) by Anne Atulaegwu
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