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The Sufficiency of Scripture 05: Maturity as sufficiency

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Now, rather than starting and ending with the concept of "sufficiency", it's helpful to look at the related concept of maturity. This is all about forming into something more Christ-like (Ephesians 4:13). If the principle that maturity is becoming like Jesus is correct, we can think about many other applications.

Consider the missionary, going to a remote tribe where there is no church. How can they be matured, if they are stuck for years outside the normal environment of church? This might be similar to how Jesus sent out 72 disciples, two by two, to preach the good news, heal the sick and cast out demons (Luke 10:1-12, 17-20). This is doing what Jesus did, so it matures us as we learn his ways and act as his ambassador. We live as an open Bible to others, so in that emulation of Christ, we become like him.

We'll look in some more depth at maturing through our calling, growth in character, good works, and suffering now.

Maturing in our calling

Those who are pleasing God are those who are doing God's will, and these people will be maturing in Christ. Paul talks to the Ephesians about how each of us need to to mature in our respective gifts that we've been given:

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ...So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Ephesians 4:1–16, NIV

So, to please God, Paul is saying that we need to consider what calling we have on our lives, and order our lives around that calling, to honour God and others (4:1). He lists out five of these gifts (4:11) as examples of how they enrich others to go from being infants tossed around by every wind of doctrine to a mature body, supported and built up in the ligaments of love (4:12-16).

We need the church to become mature.

The writer of Hebrews talks about going from milk to solid food in the context of teaching in a church:

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In 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! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And God permitting, we will do so.
Hebrews 5:11–6:3, NIV

Teaching and training in righteousness comes from instruction from the Word. Once again, this teaching is done in the context of a teacher—and thus presumably, a local church.

Notice also there is another gift mentioned, that of distinguishing between good and evil (between spirits, Hebrews 5:14), also known as discernment of spirits (1 Corinthians 12:10). In order to do that distinguishing, it involves "constant use" and training (5:14). Maturing takes time!

God's will involves us pursuing the calling God has for us individually, which takes a grounding in the teaching of the Word, as taught in the context of a local church, under the unity and work of the Spirit.

Maturing in character

Paul also describes maturity in terms of the characteristic of love, in 1 Corinthians.

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13, NIV

This teaches that love is a most excellent quality. It's also a measure of maturity. How do we do good? With love.

This particular passage doesn't teach us how to get love, but that's taught elsewhere:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22–25, NIV

The fruit of the Spirit—the effect of being rooted in the Spirit—is that it will produce (fruit) love, joy, peace and many more things in your life.

So we find that we need the Spirit, and more than that, to "live by the Spirit" and "keep in step with the Spirit", since we are also warned that we can quench the Spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19).

We may know this intellectually, but Sam Storms elaborates on how we practically quench the Spirit: when relying on a power other than the Spirit; when trying to control the Spirit; when we suppress his (spiritual) gifts; when we don't permit the leading of the Spirit; when we despise prophetic utterance; when we do not inculcate the felt assurance of the Spirit; and when we suppress heartfelt affections in worship.Seven Ways to Quench the Spirit, 29/4/2018, Sam Storms, Desiring God, https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/seven-ways-to-quench-the-spirit, accessed 29/10/2022 Dwelling on the opposite will help us to fan the Spirit into flame, or at least not suppress the fire.

Pleasing God will always involve growth in character, the fruit of a life lived in the Spirit—and we can suppress or fan the Spirit in our lives.

Maturing in good works

The typical passage brought out for the idea of what is sufficient is in 2 Timothy. But note how Paul instructs Timothy to be doing this in the context of a church, with different people exercising different gifts (Paul included):

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
2 Timothy 3:14–4:5, NIV

Paul talks about the usefulness and helpfulness of Scripture to equip the saints "for every good work". This is done by preaching, correcting, rebuking and encouraging, with patience and care: something that only a local pastor could do.

Good work involves any work that we might do—not limited to social justice issues. So we should be equipped for good work at our workplaces, in our homes, at church, and in the world.

God's will will always involve doing good work, and so being grounded in the teaching of Scripture through a local church is paramount to maturing in this.

Maturing by suffering and as a whole

If we're going to emphasise 2 Timothy for its language about maturity and completeness, we must also emphasise James, which uses the same language:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
James 1:2–4, NIV

This maturity is obtained through testing of your faith, and the subsequent perseverance.

Whereas 2 Timothy is talking about a groundedness or foundation of faith, James is talking about the exercise of our faith. It's the application of the theory. So the Word is able to create a strong, sure foundation for every good work, and that brings about a certain kind of maturity, but it's only part of the picture. We mature more when put that foundation into practice.

The Spirit also leads us through trials, building perseverance and maturity in the faith. This is where we put into practice what we have learned from Scripture. It's not another route apart from Scripture to maturity, but it's the application of Scripture. Like Jesus, we go through trials because the world rejects Jesus. So we reflect Jesus to others when we go through persecutions too.

Paul, having experienced many trials of his own, continues this idea:

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Romans 5:3–4, NIV

Paul sees a logical progression.

  1. We put our faith in God;

  2. Others persecute us and we suffer;

  3. We continue in faith, during that suffering, producing perseverance;

  4. Perseverance builds character;

  5. Character gives us hope.

In the language of our study, there's a parallel:

  1. We become thoroughly equipped for every good work by the Word of God

  2. This foundational equipping, when exercised in the world according to our gifting and calling, results in persecution;

  3. Continuing in that grounding in the Word, looking to Jesus, with the Spirit, produces perseverance;

  4. As we persevere, we practice what Jesus practiced and grow in Christ-likeness, building character;

  5. As we grow in character, we are in fact becoming more like Jesus, which gives us hope, and also gives others hope, in that they can see God in us, and be drawn to him all the more.

All of these things please God and are aspects of maturing in Christ. At various times, it will be God's will to focus more on one of them than others, and we need the Spirit, the church and the Word to guide us day-to-day as to what to focus on individually.

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