“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”
Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV

‘…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…”

It is up for those who have been called to be these teachers, preachers and elders to follow along with their calling. But it is the responsibility of every believer to seek out maturity in Christ. Maturity is, after all, a natural part of growth. Imagine if you had a child who grew physically to be 6’2″, but you still had to care for him, feed him, clothe him and speak to him as if he were and infant. Would you assume everything was still okay? Would you assume that he was a healthy child in all respects? You would take him to any doctor you needed to in order to find out what was wrong with him, right?

What about a child who matured to be 3-4 years old, but stopped there as they continued to grow physically? What about 12-13 years old mentally? The expectation is that we grow mentally, in maturity and physically all at the same time. A 5 year old should be 5 year old sized and think, act, move like a 5 year old. A 45 year old should be 45 year old sized and think, act, move like a 45 year old. An 85 year old should do likewise.

But in the Church, we have people of varying ages and varying maturities. You may have an 85 year old who is very young in their faith, and a 16 year old who is wise beyond their years because of the work of God in their hearts. But the goal is that we are all always growing and maturing. We should never be in the same place from a maturity standpoint from one year to the next. We should always be in pursuit of growth and maturity in Christ. This pursuit of maturity is presented by those in authority within the Church, but more importantly it comes through the Word & the Spirit speaking within us as we walk daily with Christ.

But it is up to each and every one of us to be responsible for the course and timing of our maturing. Our course is Christ, but we must choose to walk as He walked. The timing comes from that daily pursuit and honest, personal evaluation. Maturity is gauged against the expectation laid out in Scripture. Maturity comes from our willingness to be sculpted and changed by the Spirit and the Word so that we grow up into the stature of Christ. It’s not that we seek to become -Him- but that we seek to become -like Him- in every way possible. Not for our own glory, but only for His. Maturity brings the understanding that none of this is about us, but about Him instead. Maturity brings the understanding that our flesh-bound desires have nothing to do with looking like Jesus & that we cannot afford to cling to ‘how I’ve always done things’ in order to grow into that Christ-like person that God desires us to be.

People who were born into the church, baptized as children, and attend church weekly should exhibit a much greater maturity than that 85 year old man who is just learning about Jesus. In fact, those of us who have been raised in the Church, we should be the ones leading the charge to maturity and service in Christ, rather than the models of complacency that we usually are. We see new believers excited about their newfound faith, and we say, “Good, let them do the work.” while we sit detatched.

This should never be the case!

If we are to be the ones setting the example, then we need to live by the example, never resting or sitting comfortably, but in constant pursuit of Christ. I’ll take a passionate hand full of new believers over a church full of complacent pew sitters anyday. If we are called to GoLove others in the Name of Christ, then that should be our life’s passion & we should run gladly with Him as we daily seek maturity in Him.