Thoughts on Becoming Mature in Christ based on Ephesians 4:1-24

Our salvation, our Christianity, our discipleship – our following of Jesus … should be a dynamic, progressive, growing experience. Some of us may have been hugely influenced that becoming a Christian was a decision that we had to make to escape hell and gain heaven. But this is only a very small part of the Bible’s teaching about salvation. God went to the radical extent of sending his beloved Son to earth, not just because we needed to find mercy to offset justice, but much more importantly because God wanted to have a new and ongoing relationship with us. This would be a growing relationship, where through our experience of God’s Spirit within us, we would actually become more like the Jesus who saved us (that is, saved us … from the destructiveness we brought upon ourselves).

And so this text from Ephesians challenges us and encourages us to put ourselves in the position where we can become mature. Surely we don’t just want to stay the way we are when there is so much more room to grow and so many more opportunities to do so! When we get to verse 17, we are reminded that there ought to be change in the way that we live due to our relationship with Jesus. We don’t just thank Jesus for dying for us and live how we like. We are given the example of “Gentiles” who had had no real chance of knowing the God of Israel until Jesus came on the scene, and then Paul was called to take the gospel to them. Thus they would have been living in ignorance of God’s ways and attitudes. We, on the other hand, have no such disadvantages – we have the greatest resources ever available to live in a Godly way. As verse 20 reads, "That is not the way you learned Christ"!

1. We know how much God loves us
2. We have Jesus as an example of purposeful living
3. We have the gift of the Holy Spirit available to us
4. We have the manual – an instruction book on life – the Bible (note the propensity to try to assemble or operate something without referring to the instruction manual)
5. We have each other!

As we go on to read in verses 22-4, we are to be in a process of change > from the way we used to live impelled by the attitudes and priorities we once held, towards being a new person encapsulated by the likeness of God. This process of change begins in our minds through a change in the way that we think. We decide that such and such is no longer good for us, and act accordingly. We come to know that this particular behaviour is unhelpful to others, so we make a change. The Holy Spirit is available to help us make changes, but doesn’t force these changes, rather waiting for us to make up our own minds first. Once we have worked out that what we used to consider important isn’t really that important in the bigger scheme of things, or what we once did by habit has been really destructive, and decide to take action, then we have released the power of the Holy Spirit to bring this change about.

Returning to the beginning of chapter 4, we are challenged to live a life worthy of what God has invested within our life. We have been given breath, physical & emotional & social & intellectual capacities; we have also been given grace and forgiveness and spiritual renewal; and on top of this we have been given a reason to live – a ministry to other people. There is no way we can honour God’s gifts to us, or fulfil our service to others properly, without offering ourselves up to mature. As the fruit on the tree responds to the sun, our lives can also embrace the potential for growth contained in the SON. If we are at all perplexed or disappointed that people don’t seem to recognise Jesus in us, or even seem to be interested in our faith, then we need to take some steps toward greater spiritual maturity!

There are some clues in this passage (verse 2ff) of how we might track our growth or level of maturity in Christ.

1. Are we becoming more humble – that is, more open to God’s influence in our life, less self-centred, more teachable, more open to the needs of others, being non-judgemental, less argumentative, more in touch with our need for God?

2. Are we becoming more patient and forbearing in each of our daily interactions? To be forbearing is to deeply understand the love God has for other people (even the annoying ones), as well as having our own lives securely based in the love of God.

3. Are we seeking to live in greater unity and peace with those we regularly interact with – family, workplace, school, neighbourhood, social groups & church community?

* * * If we are struggling in any of these areas we need to pray and seek prayer.

Jesus has taken captivity itself captive to bring freedom to humankind. So the Christian life is not so much about giving up, but more about clearing out to have room to fill up. It’s like those hoarders amongst us who eventually run out of room for some of the good new things that are offered to us. If we can just clear out some of the stuff that we’ll never need to use again, we’ll have the room to receive a whole lot of new and useful resources. These are the gifts of the Holy Spirit, given to each of Jesus’ followers, to be brought together into unity, and used for the common good – not only of the church, but also the world. So here is the 4th indicator of the reality of growth in our lives >

4. Are we making a contribution to a harmoniously working whole – in terms of a properly integrated and functioning ‘spiritual body’ (on mission for God in the local community)?

You probably, like me, hear people saying that they can be a Christian without the Church. We can probably understand where this is coming from, given the all too obvious imperfections in the Church from time to time. However, despite this, it is a contradiction in terms. One cannot be a Jesus follower in isolation, because being a Jesus follower is and always will be a relational and interactional phenomenon. Those who try to be Christian alone will never mature, nor find hope or peace.