Dear Friends in Christ,

Every week we see at the top of our Reading’s page, “Let us so embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and live our lives in such a way, so as to make good men and women seeing us want what we have.” We have become used to seeing this, and I do preach on it from time to time. It is a call to live into spiritual maturity. But are we clear on what it means to live our lives as this “mission statement” declares? Most Christians apparently are not:

• In a recent Barna Group survey 81% of those asked identified spiritual maturity with “trying hard to follow the rules.”
• Answers to an open ended question on what their church would define as spiritual maturity over half had no idea.
• When asked what they thought it means to be a spiritually mature Christian, regardless of what their church said, 20% could not give an answer. Among those who did, the answers were all over the board: relationship with Jesus (21%), following rules and being obedient (15%), living a moral lifestyle (14%), possessing concern about others (13%), being involved in spiritual disciplines (13%), applying the Bible (12%), being spiritual or having belief (8%), sharing their faith with others (6%), and being involved in church activities (5%).
• When church leaders and pastors were asked how they would measure spiritual health, they too were unable to give a clear answer.

It should be obvious to you by now that I want to tackle this question of spiritual maturity. It seems to me our “mission statement” is a good place to begin, and it can easily be broken into three parts: let us so embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ (1); and live our lives in such a way (2); that good men and women seeing us want what we have (3).

Let’s start with embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In Matt 4:19, Jesus said, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Following Jesus is a call to embrace him as “the way, the truth and the light.” When I instruct parents, godparents and prospective Confirmands on what it means to be a Christian I tell them it means we will not be followers of any other religion: Hinduism, Buddhism, Wiccanism, New Age-ism. None of those. We will follow Christ. This does not mean we should be judgmental or argumentative. It does mean we should be convinced and convincing the Jesus Christ is Lord of all. As a creedal church we are fortunate. We can define our beliefs as found in Holy Scripture through two sources: the ancient creeds of the church and the 39 Articles of Religion. To embrace Jesus means to embrace what the church has defined over the centuries as “what we believe.”

If the first part of our mission statement has to do with what we believe, the second part is mainly about how we are to behave: let us live our lives in such a way. If we are confused on this aspect of spiritual maturity we would not be alone. Early Christians who did not have the benefit of walking with the living Christ also wanted to know how this was to be accomplished. So whether the question was raised in a letter to St Paul, or whether St Paul seeing their manner of life decided it was decidedly un-Christian, his direction to the Church at Corinth was this: Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. (1 Cor 11:1 NKJV)

St. Paul said imitate me: mimic me, walk in my footsteps, do as I do, watch me and let me serve as an example for you. All of these could sound arrogant but I think they are instead the words of a great leader. Great leaders are in front displaying the example for those who would follow. Notice St Paul also gives a qualifier: as I follow Christ. He, too, was a sinner. He did not want them to sin as he sinned, but rather to be a follower of Jesus as he followed our Lord. Christian leaders, I among them, need to step up to the plate and say to those who are unsure of what it means to live as a Christian: follow me as I follow Christ.

How then shall we live our lives? The scriptures divide the answer to this question into two parts: don’t do certain things; do certain things. There are so many passages but here are just two to serve as an example. First, those things that are definitely not part of embracing the Gospel of Jesus Christ:

unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful (Rom 1:29-31 NKJV)

You should be able to find your favorite temptations somewhere in this list. Spiritual maturity means you do not give in but instead fight against these temptations, in the power of Christ. And as you do, you begin to gain mastery over them, rather than they over you.

On the positive side St Paul writes:

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely , whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you. Phil 4:8-9 NKJV

This is what we mean when we say “let us lives our lives in such a way.” Not doing those things we ought not and doing the things we ought. The third part of our “mission statement” is easy: that good men and women, seeing us, want what we have. “Seeing us” means we are willing to be visible examples of what it means to be a Christian. We will reach out to our family, friends, neighbors and colleagues with the Good News in Christ. So for us, at least, spiritual maturity comes in three parts: believing rightly, doing rightly, and leading from the front. The more we grow in these the more mature we are. God bless! Fr lance