Mature vs. Immature Christians

Maturity vs. Immaturity

Read Hebrews 5

The matter of Christian Maturity always is on my heart as a pastor and as a leader of Bible study/Discipleship ministries. We are faced with such immaturity in the church because we have relied more on programs to grow disciples rather than taking personal responsibility for one another’s growth.

 

Christ said he came that we could not just have life, but have abundant life (John 10:10). And that life is found in growing up in Christ.

 

Choices of Maturity

The Life Application Study Bible gives the following contrast between mature and immature choices as believers that helps us gauge where people are and where we need to lead them.

 

The Choices of Maturity

Mature choices	Versus	Immature choices
Teaching others	rather than…	just being taught.
Developing depth of understanding	rather than…	struggling with the basics.
Self-evaluation	rather than…	self-criticism.
Seeking unity	rather than…	promoting disunity.
Desiring spiritual challenges	rather than…	desiring entertainment.
Careful study and observation	rather than…	opinions and halfhearted efforts.
Active faith	rather than…	cautious apathy and doubt.
Confidence	rather than…	fear.
Feelings and experiences evaluated in the light of God’s Word.	rather than…	experiences evaluated according to feelings.

 

One way to evaluate spiritual maturity is by looking at the choices we make. The writer of Hebrews notes many of the ways those choices change with personal growth.

From the Life Application Study Bible.

 

Hebrews 5:11-14 (HCSB) ¹¹ We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become slow to understand. ¹² For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of God’s revelation. You need milk, not solid food. ¹³ Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. ¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

 

I have to laugh when it says “you have become slow to understand.” The author is saying, we have to keep this simple and go slow because you have not been very teachable. Each of us, when we have learned, should go and teach others (5:12). So when a pastor has taught us well from the Word, he should not have to lead us through it again. We should be faithful to apply it and go teach it to others.

 

I remember a lady once saying in answer to some struggles in our church, “The pastor needs to lead a group through ‘Experiencing God’ again.” What? No! The people who had been through “Experiencing God” needed to apply it and some of them needed to lead a new group of growing Christians through the study in order to grow them in these life changing principles.

 

So lets all be about maturing and making mature choices as we lead others from immaturity to maturity in the Body of Christ.