I heard a great sermon on Tuesday by Roger Spradlin of Valley Baptist Church in Bakersville, CA. In it he dove into Philippians 3:9-11 with the purpose of teaching about spiritual maturity. He laid out a few characteristics of spiritual maturity:
- Knowing Christ relationally
- Experiencing the power of Christ
- Sharing the Pain of Christ
- Fulfilling our purpose in sharing the Gospel (not doing the bare minimum!)
He also shared a cool quote by Adinoram Judson, America's first foriegn missionary.
"If you love God you will love souls"
Spradlin also used an interesting term to refer to spiritual immaturity. He called it "spiritual retardation." When you think about physical or mental retardation, it refers to the absence of 'normal' growth but is something entirely unpreventable.
When you think of "spiritual retardation" it is something we individually cause by not allowing the Holy Spirit to progressively sanctify us (make us more holy) . It seems this happens when we lose the regular study and meditation on the Word of God, have a weak prayer life, or slack in the other areas of spiritual discipline.
That brings to mind the seed choked by the thorns so that it cannot mature..Luke 8:14
I especially like this passage from Hebrews 5
11We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
This is convicting to remind me of the necessity of staying disciplined in my Christian walk so that the Spirit can continue to work in and through me in His power!
