How To Measure Maturity as a Disciple

How to Measure Progress/Maturity/Growth as a Disciple

Lately, I’ve been thinking about how you can really measure spiritual maturity.  To me there’s several Philippians 2:4-8, where we’re told: 1) Christ didn’t regard equality with God as something to be grasped; 2) Christ emptied himself/ became a servant/ lowered himself to the form of man; 3) Christ humbled Himself; and 4) Christ became obedient to the point of death.  So obviously we want to see humility and obedience and exaltation of God (not self) in a disciple.  The other measure of Christlikeness that really stands out to me is that Christ was a disciple maker and He definitely called all of us to make disciples.  How then can we be considered a mature disciple if we aren’t ourselves making humble obedient disciple making disciples?

I’ve also been reading a book called “Deeper Experiences of Famous Christians”  One of the things that has really stood out to me is the death to self that has to occur before someone really experiences depth in their relationship with Christ.  This isn’t another measure but a description of “emptying yourself” as Christ did.  Are you willing to give up your comfort, your feelings of happiness, joy, and everything important to you and rely wholly on faith?  (It's not that God doesn't want us to have joy, but that he doesn't want us to exalt feelings over Him, or the gift over the Giver.) When you come to this point, you’ve achieved a new measure of maturity.

These are some of my first thoughts on measures of maturity. I’m planning to think more and write more, but in the mean time, tell me your thoughts.  How would you measure spiritual maturity/progress/growth as a disciple of Christ? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Bulging Disc Leads to Writing and Tweeting

MRI showing bulge pressing on my nerve.

 I've got a bulging disc in my spine which is pressing against the nerve root.  So my sciatic nerve causes severe pain to shoot down my leg when I get up or down from a sitting or laying position.  I'm going for daily treatment by a local physical therapist and praying that my back heals.  Right now, getting in and out of a car is difficult and I can't lift anything over 1 kilogram.  That makes my work tough.

So, after doing stretches and exercises, I put some ointment on my back and was laying around and thinking.  I talked to someone today who's planning to write a book on discipleship.  I thought I might have some things to say that others would be interested in on the topic. So I think I'll write some of my thoughts out on a blog and see if they develop enough that I could make a book out of it.  What I'd really like to do is see how much interest there would be in my thoughts.  So, I'm going to see what kind of feedback I get.

In order to get feedback, I want to let people know what I'm writing and when I've written some.  So I've set up a twitter account.  In fact I've set up a hootsuite account. (I figure if John Piper's using it that I can try it too.)  That way, I can post to facebook, twitter and linked in all at once.

So follow me on twitter.  My twitter account is @jeffinindia.  Click Follow @jeffinindia
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God’s Building His Church

One of the things that has been amazing in our journey here in India is seeing how God works.  We once thought that teaching doctrine to uneducated pastors and church leaders was a daunting task. We knew that first we needed to lay a solid understanding of who God is and of the need for faith in Him.  We decided to do this through chronological Bible story telling.  The amazing thing is that through what we thought was foundation laying, we’ve seen God teach people deep theological truth.

Pastor Charles Kujur

Recently, Charles, a pastor we’ve been training,  said, “Joseph passed by many temptations and he did not even commit sin against God. He abides in the Word of God. God blesses us in our lives abundantly, and His blessings are a light which is lifted up that others can glorify God and have respect for God’s people.” It’s amazing that through Bible storytelling, which we sometimes call oral inductive Bible study, Charles understands the preeminence of God and His glory.  He understands that God’s blessings are given so that we might glorify Him. This is an example of the kind of observations many church leaders are now making. 

We go chronologically through 49 Bible stories to help them clearly see God’s redemptive story.  We use an interactive method where we go through the story 3 times. Then we dig into the story to find the spiritual truths. Finally, we make practical and personal application from the story and the spiritual truths.   

The results in the last few months are that many of the participants are digging deeper into God’s word. They understand deep concepts like the sovereignty of God, His faithfulness, the way He plans and accomplishes His plans, His mercy, and the way He foreshadows or gives examples of things to come.  One student observed that just as there was only one door onto Noah’s ark by which men could be saved from destruction, there is also only one way to be saved from the penalty of our sins – entering into God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.  Another realized that the tar that covered the inside and outside of the ark provided covering and protection.  In the same way Christ’s blood provides us protection and covering.  These aren’t lessons we taught them.  We simply taught them how to meditate on scripture and ask the right questions and they came to know the truth by meditation and revelation of the Spirit of God.  This is exciting to us, because they are learning to feed themselves, a necessary step towards being able to teach others to do the same.

Just as Charles said, God blesses as people abide in His Word. The result is that the church is built up.  God is building His church.  Through the people who are His church God is exalting Himself.  We praise God for the opportunity to be a part of this. We also thank Him for all who are participating in making this possible.

Victoria's Leading a Small Group

I'm really proud of my daughter. She was asked by one of the ladies in our house fellowship if she'd consider leading a small group for the teenagers and pre-teens. Victoria very seriously prayed about it and enlisted prayer from several friends and family members before answering. She was really considering carefully whether she was qualified or able and whether this was what God was calling her to do.

After a week or so, she agreed to lead the group. This week, they had their first small group meeting. They talked about encouragement, wisdom and looked at Scripture regarding how God has used young people. They are all starting to keep journals and will be meeting weekly. Their parents report that they all really enjoyed it and are looking forward to meeting again next week. Victoria seems to have her own little discipleship group now.

It's exciting to see Victoria use her gifts to serve the Lord in this way.