By the title of the book I’ve recently revised, Not For This Life Only, it could be taken primarily as preparing for our life after death. However I don’t consider that the main point of my writing. I am more concerned about the context of our day to day life now. If this is a life growing in Christian maturity then we are prepared for our time of death whenever our Lord calls us home. It is then a time not to be feared, but to be anticipated with joy. So I want to think about what it means to mature in Christ.
The Apostle Paul explains this to the Ephesian Christians in chapter four of his letter. [“Christ gave] some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. (Vss.11-16)
Tragically, I believe what we see in far too much of the church in our day is “children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine”. With the onslaught of technology and various social movements much of mankind has been carried off in doctrinal windstorms.
John Stonestreet in a recent Colson Center Break Point commentary was writing about the influence of all the technological advances available to an unlimited cultural of creativity and self-expression writes; “What ultimately limits a culture of limitless self-expression is meaninglessness. That’s why we continue to see the epidemics of narcissism, loneliness, addiction, depression, and self-harm. It’s as if we are a room full of kids who each brought something for show-and-tell, but we can’t stop talking long enough to appreciate what anyone else has to offer.” In other words, we have everything possible and yet we find it all meaningless.
This effects the Gospel and Christian witness in that we become one more kid who brought a show-and-tell. The Church has failed to stand out as something different. Churches are closing. Buildings are being sold off, and we are being set back to where the Church was in the 2nd and 3rd centuries. We are called to witness to our faith through a mature Christian life willing to give oneself in Christ’s love for the good of another regardless of the personal cost. It is this willingness to give of one’s self because of Christ’s love that changes and matures our own life as well as being a meaningful witness in the midst of a world of noisy meaninglessness.
We will look further at the meaning of Christian maturity next time. For now, read again chapters 4 and 5 of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians thinking about what this means in our day to day activities.
God’s continued grace, guidance, and strength dear friends.
IFS