Presented Mature

By Ron Key

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     Today there is an urgent need for perfect Christians. Not in the sense that we generally speak of perfect, but as Paul expressed it"...warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus" (Colossians 1:29). The main topic here is not sinless perfection, but maturity, a word sadly neglected among us today. We have a strange paradox in the church with its mature and adult head shackled with an infant's body. Our need is to grow up. As Harvey Bream says, we are "whiskered babes."

     There is a difference between maturity in body, soul and spirit. While we have flattered our ego, boasting of spiritual awareness and sensitivity, we have sadly been living two dimensional lives--body and soul. If we give more than ten percent, have regular attendance at our local church house, teach a class, sponsor some group, and know book, chapter and verse, we are spiritual. But this is the very same rut-life which Jesus denounced in the Pharisees. What they called maturity was basically insecurity in God. Their security came by maturing body and soul and not the spirit.

     Perhaps the saddest aspect of Jesus' teaching ministry was that his listeners could not understand the spiritual maturity of which he spoke. He picked corn on the Sabbath, healed a withered hand, and publicly denounced "mature spiritual" leaders. And the irony of it is that he was thought of as immature by his peers. They labeled him "glutton and winebibber." That is why Jesus prefaced his remarks so often with "he that hath ears, let him hear." Jesus confronts the same righteous pessimism today which stalked his pathway in Palestine.

     "It can't work."

     "That is too idealistic."

     "When you are mature you will change your attitude."

     But maturity is not adopting doctrines of adults, but growing in Jesus: "Rooted and built up in him; and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving" (Colossians 2:7).

     While Jesus could merely whet spiritual appetites of his followers in his brief ministry, his teaching was magnified and implemented in the early church. His disciples did not just tell young converts to mature, they showed them how to mature as well. Likewise, we must not just teach facts, but concepts as wells.

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How does God help us to grow up?
Why are we allowed to face temptation?
What does it mean to have life abundant?
How can we establish the kingdom in our hearts?
How should a body of believers function?

     Before we teach, we must understand. We must mature and grow in Jesus, not in church politics or doctrines of men. We must launch into three-dimensional living, and have ears to hear and eyes to see.

     Then, as David says, "We shall be as a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" (Psalm 1:3). We will be presented mature, in Jesus.      (Ron Key may be addressed at 3710 Valley View Lane, Dallas. Texas 75234).