“North American Christians are caught in a crisis of immaturity…Countless churches are made up, and in many cases led by, men and women who seem perpetually caught in spiritual infancy...Christians are struggling with a crisis of immaturity, which is having a devastating effect upon their lives and the ministry of the gospel in a broken world.”
These lines are taken from the first page of a book by Terry Wardle called Outrageous Love, Transforming Power. He goes on the give the basis for his observation and it is this--American Christians are immature because they are using the wrong standard for measurement.
I used to have a ruler that appeared to be about six inches long but it went up to about 22 inches. It was called The Fisherman's Rule. Any fisherman using it would have felt good about his catch but he/she would have had an inaccurate measure. Likewise the measures we use for Christian maturity may make us feel good but they are not accurate and we are still immature.
Our Sunday sermons in June and July are meant to provide a more accurate measure of maturity.
Are we growing more like Christ?
Jesus' most common invitation is "Follow me" not "act like me".
We may use two pictures as points of reference for measuring maturity. (In some areas these are called bounded sets vs. centered sets.) I use the picture of walls or wells. Are we building walls so we can determine who is in or out, i.e. those who look and act like we do? Or are we all headed to the well? Jesus said "Come to me. Drink of me".
Walls are a good measure of who is in or out--based on our own standards of measurement. However, these standards change from place to place and do not really provide a good measure of maturity.
The idea of a well is more open but it will allow us to measure maturity by whether we are heading to the well. Are we getting closer to Jesus. This picture makes Jesus the center rather than human standards (i.e. Do we smoke, drink, chew, have pierced ears, wear long sleeved shirts, drive a Ford are all examples of walll building.)
I think it is freeing to be seen as a traveler on the way to the well rather than someone stuck within the walls. The Christian life is a journey not a destination.
What do you think? I would love to hear from you.
Lew
Who are you?
As a child of Christ you are:
Accepted Rom 14:3, 15:7
Blessed Eph. 1:3
Chosen
Destined 1 Th. 3:3
Enlightened
Established
Equipped
Forgiven and Freed
Gifted
Heirs
Inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life
Justified
Known by name 2 Tim. 5:19
Liberated from the Law
Members of Christ’s body
Nourished and given a new nature
Offspring of God
Partakers of Christ Heb. 3:14 KJV
Qualified to share in the inheritance Col. 1:12
Reconciled
Redeemed
Sanctified
Salt of the earth Mt. 5:13
Temple of the Holy Spirit
United with Christ Rom. 6:5
Victorious in Christ through faith 1 John 5:4
Workmanship of God Eph. 2:10
eXtraordinary people 1 Peter 2:9-10
Yoked with Christ
Bound for Zion
