Measuring Maturity

Today I picked up a book I wanted to begin reading. Often when beginning a new book, I look at the year it was published. This book was published in 1996. That year struck a chord with me since it was the year I trusted in Christ. 

Then I did the math quickly and realized it was 18 years ago.  Apart from feeling that I am jogging more away from my youthfulness each year, it also showed me that soon I will be approaching decades of discipleship. I say this humbly, knowing that it is God’s grace that has sustained me over the years. 

Now there are many Christians who have been walking with the Lord for many decades, and show tremendous growth over the years. At the same time, there are some who have been Christians for a long time and have grown only a little. And then there are those who become Christians and grow a ton in a short time. 

The interesting thing about maturity in the Bible is that seldom is there a timeframe tied to it. What I mean is that the Bible does not say a person is mature after following Christ a set number of years. Instead, the Bible puts the emphasis in a different direction. Hebrews says this about measuring maturity: 

“But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish between good and evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity.” (Heb 5:14-6:1b ESV). 

According to that, maturity is measured not by years or lack of them, but by how a person is responding to God’s Word and growing in discernment.  Growing in maturity as a disciple is growing in discernment and character. This is the reason that Timothy was trusted with church leadership at a young age (1 Tim 4:12). 

It is a good practice to do some spiritual self-evaluation at some point and ask a person who knows us well if they can honestly measure our maturity biblically. What do they observe in us that is evidence of growth? Do they sense that we are growing in God’s Word? Do they recognize that we are becoming more discerning? Is character evident?   

Just like it is my fatherly desire to see my small children grow in maturity, it is our heavenly Father’s desire for his children to grow in maturity. 

“Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation--if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (1 Pet 2:2-3 ESV). 

2 Essentials for Being in the Center of God's Will

Many people consume themselves with the topic God's will. The Bible does emphasize what it looks like to be in the center of God's will, though this will not help someone who wants to know who to marry or what job to take. Here are two biblical truths about being in the center of God's will.

God’s Will for Eternal Life in Christ (John 6:40)
“For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 

So first, God’s will is to save a people for himself through the gospel. 

The gospel: [lit. good news] God has a plan to rescue sinners from his wrath. Every human is born in sin and under the judgment of God. Only Jesus Christ can save you from God’s wrath. The good news/gospel is that God has sent him to take your punishment on the cross--to be your substitute--to die in your place so you can be forgiven, find freedom from sin and eternal life in heaven.  

Yet there is a crucial word in this passage that some can miss: believe. The text says nothing about having Christian parents or growing up in the church. It simply says “believe.”

It is the same message that the apostles preached in Acts 10:43 “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.” 

So the first essential of being in the center of God’s will is to believe in Christ. Personal faith in Christ is essential. Do you have this? Have you personally turned from your sin and trusted in Jesus Christ? Are you a believer? 

God’s Will for a Holy Life (1 Thess 4:3)
“For this is the will of God, your sanctification...” 

God’s will for his children is this: “be sanctified” (that means be holy, set apart for God).

In case there is any confusion about what that looks like, the verse gets a little more detailed “that you abstain from sexual immorality.” 

If Paul’s day was sexually chaotic, ours is probably just as much if not more. Our culture has such a casual attitude towards sex and I don’t need to spend time trying to convince anyone of that. But God is looking for people who take holiness seriously. To be at the center of his will means to take holiness seriously. That is the second essential aspect of being in God’s will from the Bible. 

Yet often many people consume themselves with trying to find the right career path or right spouse to try to be in the center of God’s will.

But the Bible puts the emphasis in a different direction: believe in the gospel and pursue  a holy life. That is what being in the center of God’s will looks like. 

Again, these are essentials to being at the center of God’s will. The topic of God’s will is broad and there is much to consider with decision making and seeking guidance, like career and marriage. I would recommend the book Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung for answers to those topics. 

Finally, one of the most important aspects of being in God’s will is to make it a regular part of our praying, which Jesus taught us to do:

“Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt 5:10). 

A Christ-Centered Word for the Wilderness

God often brings his people through the wilderness. He did it to Israel. He did it to his own Son (Lk 4:1). The wilderness is often characterized as a place of testing. God often brings his people through the wilderness to see what is in their hearts. And often what comes out is not good. One Psalm shows how Israel responded in the wilderness: 

“They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness?’” (Ps 78:18-19). 

That is not the right response in the wilderness. From my own experience and reading the Bible, it never honors God when we test and question him in our wilderness.  

Now being in the wilderness can can expose what is truly in our hearts. What do we crave in the wilderness? What comes out of our mouths in the wilderness? Those words reveal what is in our heart, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matt 12:34). 

Yet there is a different perspective we can take into the wilderness. It is found in a few words in Deuteronomy: “These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing” (Dt 2:7). Those promises are always true when God brings his people through the wilderness. And in Christ there is a much richer meaning.

We can trust in his provision. We can trust that we lack nothing. In Christ we can have peace through our wilderness (Col 3:15). In Christ we can have the wisdom of God in the wilderness (Col 2:3). In Christ we can have contentment in God’s provision during our wilderness sojourning (Phil 4:11-13). 

In Christ we have everything we need for the wilderness. 

I hope that brings encouragement and hope to those who are either in the wilderness, or will begin to sojourn soon in the wilderness. Christ is with you and you lack nothing in the wilderness. 

The Difference Between YOLO and DV

Dear Faithful Blog Readers, 

The culture we live in is becoming further removed from two noticeable things: Latin phrases and a God-centered worldview. The one makes sense, since Latin is a dead language. The other is sad, since God is not dead. 

A recent acronym YOLO (you only live once) has replaced the older Latin concept of carpe diem (seize the day). It means enjoying life and taking risks. A dead Latin phrase has been replaced with a hip acronym that is easy to text to a friend or use as a Twitter hashtag. 

There is one Latin phrase the needs resurrected, or at least the concept needs to be understood. It is found in the phrase Deo volente or “God willing” in English. From what I understand, people used to write D.V. at the end of written correspondence, which stood for Deo volente--similar to P.S. which is the Latin post scriptum. This makes sense since people would write their plans in letters to their friends and family. But it also showed that they lived with a God-centered worldview. The difference between YOLO and DV is that one apporaches life with us in control, the other trusts God who is truly in control of all things. 

The concept of Deo volente is found in James:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit”-yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 

(James 4:13-15 ESV)

There is a great difference between YOLO and DV. It is not because one uses a hip acronym and the other a dead language. The real difference is that God is absent from one and first in the other. Which leads us to ask the question: is God absent from our lives or is he first in our thinking, planning and living? I hope that we all live to the fullest. I hope that we have a “seize the day” approach. But I hope we do so with God’s name as the first letter of our acronym of life. That is the big difference between YOLO and DV. 

Living as a mist, 

Ryan

D.V. 

One Great Book for Growth

Over the years I have read many books that have helped me grow in Christ. Some have been helpful at different seasons in my life. But if I were to recommend one that stands out it would be The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. I initially picked it up and read it over a decade ago. And I continue to go back and refer to it especially in pastoral ministry. 

I’ll just share one quote to whet the appetite:

“When we understand the character of God, when we grasp something of His holiness, then we begin to understand the radical character of our sin and helplessness. Helpless sinners can survive only by grace” (pg. 183).

At the end of that chapter Sproul asks some application questions: 

--How does understanding God’s wrath help you honor Him as a holy God?

--In what ways do you need God to help you love Him? 

These are questions that people who are serious about growing in their knowledge of a holy God are asking. If you sincerely want to grow in worshiping and loving the holy God of Scripture, I suggest getting your hands on The Holiness of God at some point.  

“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev 19:2 ESV). 

When Life Gets Too Busy

How do you know when life has become too busy? Kevin DeYoung has recently written a book called Crazy Busy but I have not found the time to read it yet. But here is my recent experience of being busy enough to miss the ordinary joys of life. 

One of the advantages of living the small town life is that our church is located directly across the street from the elementary school. We have a glass door facing west that gives me a perfect view of the playground. When my son first started school several years ago, I would intentionally take a break about 9:30 to walk past the door and see the kids playing at recess. My goal was to spot my son amongst the other kids and watch him play for a minute or so, or until he tackled another kid. 

But that stopped at some point. I don’t remember when it came to an end, but at some point things got too busy to look.  

That was until today. I was walking to work at the church and passed by the elementary school. Typically I walk to church for exercise and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation in the sky and trees. But God had another plan to show me the beauty of his creation today. As I was walking past the school I saw my daughter outside for recess, twirling around the swing set with all the joy of a kindergartener. It was that pure innocence of play. Then it hit me: I have become too busy to look and take joy in watching my children play. 

As I arrived at my office, a poem I once read came to mind: 

Only one life, 
‘Twill soon be past; 
Only what’s done
for Christ will last. 

Eternal things last. The souls our our children are eternal. Investing in the lives of others is what matters for Christ and has lasting value. If we can’t slow down enough to take time to look and find joy in our children playing, then our lives are simply too busy. 

Not Silent for Life in 2014

Today marks 41 years of legalized abortion in the U.S. This past Sunday I preached a Sanctity of Life message as I plan on doing every year until there is a great moral reform in the law, which I am hoping to see in my lifetime. Here is a summary of what I shared with my congregation. 

The Reality of Abortion in the United States
The following are statistics about abortion in 2014 taken from Abortion: The Ultimate Exploitation of Women by Brian Fisher. 

• Abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures in the U.S. 
• It is the leading cause of death (heart disease kills 600,000 annually while 1.2 million pre-born children die each year from abortion).
• Over 55 million Americans have lost their lives to abortion since 1973. 
• 3 in ten women in America are post-abortive by the time they are 45. This implies that around 30 percent of men are also post-abortive. 
• Abortion is an enormous industry, generating more than $800 million each year for abortion doctors, facilities, and providers.
• Virtually every major city in America has at least one abortion clinic. Most large cities have several. 
• Our political candidates declare a formal position on the topic before every election. 
• Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States, celebrated the 40th Anniversary of Roe v Wade by stating, “That’s 40 years of protecting every woman’s fundamental right to make her own personal medial decisions.” 
• “I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose this fundamental constitutional right....[W]e must also continue our efforts to ensure that our daughters have the same right, freedoms, and opportunities to fulfill their dreams.”--President Barak Obama. 

What God’s Word Teaches About the Sanctity of Human Life
The following biblical passages show the value of human life as God’s image-bearers and how God’s sanctuary to form human life is in the womb.
(Scripture passages from the ESV)

Genesis 1:24; 27-28 "Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' 
So God created man in his own image, and in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.'"

Genesis 9:6-7  "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man his blood shall be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it." 

Psalm 127:3 “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.” 

Psalm 139:13-14 “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” 

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.” 

Luke 1:44 “For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.” 

Luke 2:21 “And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” 

Why Christians Cannot Ignore the Sanctity of Human Life

1. Because shedding innocent blood is an abomination in the sight of God (Prov 6:17).
2. Because legalized, abortion on demand in the U.S. brings disgrace upon our nation (Prov 14:34). 
3. Because Christians are called to be salt of the earth and light of the world (Matt 5:13-16).

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil. God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”    --Dietrich Bonhoeffer