PRINCIPLE 2 |
The decision to accept Jesus Christ as Savior, in itself, is the most important single decision a human being can make. Salvation brings spiritual life. It establishes the believer's new relationship with God both for the remainder of his life on earth and for eternity. The relationship with God established by this decision is the basis for all subsequent Christian living and growing. In other words, the position (salvation) is basic to the practice (the Christian walk). Because of the extreme importance of the salvation decision, some might think that all of the believer's efforts should be aimed at getting people saved. However, this is not the emphasis of the New Testament.
The New Testament states clearly that each individual believer is to go beyond salvation and aim for complete Christian maturity. Paul preached, admonished, and taught with the goal of presenting everyone "perfect in Christ" (Colossians 1:28). He also said that believers, members of the body of Christ are to build each other up "until we all ... become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13). Paul was not satisfied to stop with salvation. Rather, he worked toward the goal of guiding every individual toward complete Christlikeness. At one point Paul even expressed more concern for building up Christians than he did for preaching the gospel to nonbelievers. Even when there were still many localities to be reached with the gospel, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing" (Acts 15:36).
Thus we have a twofold goal. Salvation is basic, for without spiritual life spiritual growth is impossible. (Since salvation is so important, Principles 8 - 16 are devoted to the gospel and evangelism.) However, even though the new believer's position is perfect in Christ, his daily practice is not. His understanding of the teachings of the Bible must grow. His consistency in applying those teachings must increase. He must learn to share his new life with others. In short, he needs to grow more and more mature, more and more like Christ.
The great commission, Christ's command to his followers at the end of his earthly ministry, also encompassed this twofold goal. It is a command to contact those who do not yet know Christ (the "nations") and to teach them to obey everything Christ commanded his disciples.
All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
The word "mature" is commonly used in two different ways. Sometimes it is used in an ultimate sense, sometimes in a current sense. Maturity in the ultimate sense would refer to an individual only when he has "arrived" at the final destination. Maturity in the current sense would refer to any individual who is "on schedule" right now, implying that there is a fixed sequence or schedule which each person must follow. Since there is a relatively fixed sequence of physical and mental development in the child, it is possible to speak of a one-year-old as mature because he can walk, a two-year-old as mature because he can talk in simple sentences, and a six-year-old as mature because he can read. (Of course, neither the one-, two-, or six-year-old is mature in the ultimate sense.) But there is no fixed sequence or set schedule for spiritual development, so it is better to use the word "mature" only in the ultimate sense when talking about spiritual growth. We will refer to the ultimate destination of spiritual growth as "complete Christian maturity."
No one ever reaches complete Christian maturity in this life. Complete Christian maturity is spiritual perfection, and no one is able to maintain sinlessness in this life (1 John 1:8-10). But even though the ultimate goal is out of reach in this life, subgoals are within reach, and growth toward these subgoals is to be the Christian's daily occupation.
Below are five general descriptions of complete Christian maturity. All five refer to the same thing, yet each one states the idea in a different way, relating maturity to the three members of the trinity as well as to the Bible and to our built-in sinful tendencies.
Complete Christian Maturity is:
In a single word, complete Christian maturity is Christlikeness.
All of the above descriptions of complete Christian maturity are generalizations. In order better to visualize Christlikeness, and to apply the concept to our lives, we need a much more specific description. Thus, seventy-three characteristics of Christlikeness are listed below, organized in eleven categories. Of course, this list, which is based on the New Testament commands, is only a partial list.
1. In relation to God:
2. In relation to the Bible:
3. In relation to evil, Satan, worldly influences:
4. In relation to oneself:
5. In relation to all other Christians:
6. In relation to service:
7. In relation to non-Christians:
8. In relation to one's family:
9. In relation to the events of life:
10. In relation to civil affairs:
11. In relation to things:
We can use this list as a checklist to discover the areas of our lives that need improvement. Of course, all Christians need to grow in all areas, but the purpose of such a checklist would be to identify the few areas that are most urgent. Growth is most likely to occur when we focus our attention on one area at a time.
The same process can be used when we are helping another Christian grow. Since all ministry is aimed at meeting needs, we must have a clear idea of the above goal, or standard, in order to identify a person's needs. Then, by concentrating on his most urgent need we can help him grow in that area.
Obviously, if the other person is not a Christian he needs to accept Christ. If he is already a Christian he needs to strive to become more like Christ in every area of his life. As his discipler, teacher, pastor, or friend we can help him become aware of his needs and encourage his growth in one area after another.
Even though the Christian's ultimate goal is to become like Christ, there are a few things about Christ which the Christian should not try to imitate. For example, since Jesus was divine, he had authority to forgive sins, but we don't. Also, Jesus remained single, but this does not mean that celibacy is for all Christians. Jesus taught that either state, married or single, can be good -- depending on God's gifts and leading in the individual's life.