SUNDAY/MARCH 5, 2006

Lent 1 Measuring Maturity 3/5/06

How do we, and why should we, measure spiritual maturity? What are the “marks” of maturity? How can we determine our level of “spiritual maturity”? Does a person ever actually reach “spiritual maturity,” or are we always a “work in progress”? I’ve thought and prayed and read a lot about these questions in recent weeks and the product of my search is this 7-part sermon series. Some of what I’ve learned, and will share, is disconcerting and dis-comforting. I am confident, though, that this sermon series can benefit us all in determining and developing our spiritual maturity.

One author writes: “I believe there are 4 markers of spiritual maturity: belief, practices, attitudes, and lifestyle.” The test is in the action, where our words acquire hands and lips and legs! We are not spiritually mature simply because we say so, or thinks so. As a resident of Missouri might require: “Show me!” Don’t just talk about being spiritually mature, show me. Actions, as has historically been taught, speak louder than words. I once read: “I would rather SEE one sermon than HEAR ten!” Point noted!

The deeper a person goes in their faith…from belief to lifestyle…the more obvious are the markers. The deeper our spiritual maturity, the more evidence of this depth. I do not presume to be able to accurately quantify spiritual maturity. There will always remain, I believe, some mystery in our attempts to measure.

I’m learning over time that the real issue is the heart. Even though we can benefit by identifying and establishing some markers, the heart is difficult to measure. We sing, quoting the words of David in Psalm 51:10 “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” When we emphasize the markers exclusively, the danger is that people can then “check” themselves off as mature Christians with a certain air of accomplishment, a certain smugness that---of itself---indicates immaturity! Remember The Rich Young Man we read about in Matthew 19:16, who asked the age-old question: “What must I do to have eternal life?” Jesus reminds the young man of the Commandments, to which the man confidently replies: “I have kept all of these from my youth. What do I still lack?” Here he enters a depth of questioning he would prefer to have avoided! Jesus speaks to him about living a new lifestyle…saying, “Come, follow me.” “When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving.”

Jesus clearly indicates that spiritual maturity is a relational concept...relative to, and in relation with, Jesus. We grow spiritually as we begin and, by the grace of God, continue our daily walk with Jesus. As with the question, “Where did you grow up?”---a question presumes that all our “growing up” has been completed--- we must, spiritually speaking, continue “growing up.” Since spiritual maturity occurs only as we walk with Christ, we can never get to the point in life where we declare, “Now I am fully mature!” Even to say, or think, such a thing is evidence of its falsehood. In other words, a person who professes to have arrived at spiritual maturity has, likely, not done so!

Having said this, a danger in not assessing the maturity of an individual Christian or an individual Christian congregation is that we may only evaluate ourselves on the A, B, C’s= ATTENDANCE, BUILDING, AND CASH. Congregation, often, only set goals in these three particular areas. People want to know “How large is your church?”, “Where is your Church?”, and “What’s the cash flow of your church?” These are all quite simple to measure, using attendance or membership data, accounting instruments, and square footage. The health of a congregation is more than the sum total of how much people give, how many attend, or the square footage of a church. Measuring spiritual maturity…the depth, rather than the “width” of a congregation…is not so simply measured. But, measuring it is, nonetheless, important. So, what might we consider?

This survey question was asked of hundreds of members within more than 50 Christian congregations: “What is the #1 issue facing your congregation?” Can you guess what this survey revealed? I’m quick to admit I did not guess correctly. I’m just as quick to accept their answers as remarkably honest and incredibly accurate. These respondents revealed that the #1 issue facing their congregations is “self-control.” That’s right! “Self-control”! When the person conducting this survey was asked if this result surprised him, he said “No. This result did not surprise me, but it does scare me!” This survey reveals that how we live, what we do and don’t do…what we say and don’t say…what we value and don’t value…is the most basic issue facing the individual Christian and congregation.

As we’ve read in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3, “Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, you should do so more and more….For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor.” Consider verses from First Peter: “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; discipline yourselves…like obedient children, do not be conformed to the desires that you formerly had in ignorance”(1:13-14) and “The end of all things is near; therefore be serious and discipline yourselves…” (4:7) and “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” (5:8-9) It should not surprise us that one of the great challenges of discipleship is “self-discipline.” St. Paul admitted as much when he wrote that he knew what not to do, yet that is exactly what he does…he knows what to do, yet he does not do it!

This “surfacing,” from both scripture and survey, of the issue of self-control does provide us, or identifies for us, something to work on and something to work for! We cannot be satisfied with numerical growth as a congregation. We must ask and access: “Where are our people spiritually?” It’s not enough to “collect a crowd”. Our mission is not to fill the pews with people, but to fill the people in the pews! Just because people are here doesn’t always, nor necessarily, equate to their growing spiritually! Jesus never commanded us to “collect a crowd,” but Jesus does command us to make disciples! In the remainder of this sermon series, we’ll take a look at what all this means for me, for you, for us! Amen.