The Ultimate Maturity

“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith” (Philip. 1:20-25). Here we have an overlooked passage of scripture from which much can be learned about the matured nature of Christ in a believer. It was the apostle Paul who wrote these words, and it was he who also wrote the following passage: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13). The term ‘a perfect man’ used by the apostle, means a matured, completed, and finished product that is wanting, or lacking in nothing. That brings another passage to mind that also applies here: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing” (Jas. 1:3,4). The word 'patience’ used here is defined as 'steadfastness, constancy, or endurance.’ The word 'patience’ in and of itself denotes a period of time, meaning that it takes time for someone to be developed into what Paul called “the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” In fact the word 'stature’ in that verse means 'coming to an adult age, or maturity.’ If we expect to grow into that “perfect [completed] man” that the apostle spoke of, then it is continuance in the righteousness of God by the purifying power of his Spirit that we must be constant in. If we are constant in our love and pursuit of that righteousness through hardship, loss, persecution, and adversity; we will be matured into a true adult in Christ. This is the process that the apostle spoke of in the following passage: “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Rom. 5:3,4). This is the same thing that James wrote with just a little more detail. That little more detail is the fact that constancy in following after the righteousness of the Spirit of God through tribulation gives way to increased experience in the faith, which in turn generates greater hope.

When we have been through more time, more adversity, more tribulations of various kinds; and we have persevered in pureness of heart through it all, our sense of hope is strengthened by that added degree of experience. For our sense of hope to be strengthened is a very big thing indeed, considering the truth of the following verse: “For we are SAVED by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with PATIENCE wait for it” (Rom. 8:24,25). In other words, our salvation is dependent on hope, and our hope is heightened and solidified by means of our continuance in holiness through all circumstances over time. And all of this about growing and maturing in Christ brings me back around to our text passage which I said much can be leaned from, in regard to the maturity of a believer in Christ. The apostle Paul had endured, grown, and remained constant in holiness through much tribulation and adversity; and that process had developed him into someone who actually had to deny himself to choose to remain alive, rather than to die. He was in prison in Rome, and he clearly expressed that God had given him the choice of being put do death or to remain alive (Philip. 1:14-16; II Tim. 4:16,17; Philip. 1:23,24). He clearly said that his own personal preference was, “having a desire to depart [die], and to be with Christ; which is far better.” But being matured in the love of God as he was, his godly preference was for the good of God’s people, which he knew he could contribute greatly to by remaining alive: “Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” He ultimately preferred to stay alive, but only for the sake of the faith of Christ to be further and more solidly established in the hearts of those whom he had begotten to the Lord through his ministry. It was he who said, “Therefore I endure all things for the elect’s sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (II Tim. 2:10). He was no doubt weary of his years of labor, and toil, and persecution, and he was ready to meet the Lord in peace; but he chose to stay in this life to labor, toil, and suffer further persecution and hardship for the sake of those whose faith could be strengthened by his faith, and love, and power that he possessed in Christ. That is absolutely the ultimate denying of one’s self for the sake of the Gospel. If you want to set a goal for yourself in Christ, then try that one on for size. When we are in that position, and are able to make that choice for that reason, then we can know that we have matured into “a perfect man, [and have come] unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” We may not be apostles establishing government among congregations, but we do have people who can benefit from our presence if we are pure before God. Thank you Paul for being such an example, and thank you Jesus for giving us such an example to be our apostle. Amen.