A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a blog titled “What does Christian maturity look like?” that described the goal we ought to be aiming for as Christians. And I said that it has to do with growing “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:17), leading us to love God and others. Christian love—for God and others—is informed by, tinged with, and motivated through the grace and knowledge of Jesus.
In this blog, I want to ask a follow-up, more practical question: What does the path to growth/maturity/godliness look like? How can you know you’re on the right path? And how does the church fit into this? Is there a purpose to all that we do as a church, or are we just staying busy and distracted, hoping it leads somewhere? Are we shooting in the dark randomly, or are we aiming at a certain target?
A framework that I’ve found helpful for thinking about and pursuing Christian maturity is the triad of head, heart, and hands. Christian maturity involves attending to our head—that is, knowledge of God, biblical teaching and doctrine—our heart—that is, love for God, delight in God, worship of God in prayer and song—and our hands—that is, obedience to God with our lives, including our love and ministry to others.
You can see these three areas of focus in Jesus’ greatest commandments: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul (heart) and with all your mind” (head). And, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (hands). You can also see these in the three components of most Protestant catechisms used to teach the Christian faith to children: The Apostles’ Creed (head), The Lord’s Prayer (heart), and the 10 Commandments (hands).
Now, while it seems to be true that different individuals may be drawn to one of these areas of growth more than the others, and so you may find yourself naturally connecting with God more readily either through learning (head), worship (heart), or action (hands), true maturity as a Christian involves all three areas. We can see this in Paul’s statements in 1 Corinthians 13 that neither all the knowledge in the world (head), nor the most self-sacrificing actions (hands) are anything if you don’t have love (heart), for God and others. And yet he also suggests that mature and true love abounds “with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent” (Phil. 1:9-10). Our hands need our heart, which both need our head. Our faithful living flows from a heart alive to God’s goodness, which needs to be informed by the true doctrine of God.
So we should be asking ourselves: How am I doing loving God with my head? With my knowledge of the truth? With my knowledge of God’s character, ways, and will? With my knowledge of Christian teaching?
How am I doing loving God with my heart? With my taking delight in God? With my knowing and resting in the goodness of God? With my giving thanks to God, and my seeking God in prayer?
How am I doing loving God with my hands? With my obeying his will and word? With my seeking to honor him in all that I think, say, and do? With my aligning my life to his character? With my loving and serving others, beginning with those in my family and my church?
Now, what does the church have to do with all of this? It is tempting to see the church as merely a service or aid to help in my personal spiritual growth, and to engage it only to the degree, and only in the ways that we find it helping us.
The church is, of course, to be a help in our spiritual growth, but it will be most helpful when we realize it is much more than this. The Bible says that as Christians, we belong to the church, that we are the church, that we are “members one of another” (Rom. 12:5). It calls us to commit to a specific group of Christians in a local church, under the shepherding of elders. It calls us to both take responsibility for these other members, and receive ministry from them.
In other words, the church is the very context within which we grow up in AND live out our salvation. The church is where we are taught the truth; where we are equipped “for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12); where we learn to love one another as Christ has loved us (John 13:34); where we are encouraged and exhorted, so that we are not “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13); and where we display the primacy of Christ by our unity among differences. God has always staked his name to a people, chosen to give witness to himself and his wisdom, love, power and glory through a people, and that people is the church.
So, our aim as a church is to see you “mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28), mature in your head/knowledge/doctrine, mature in your heart/love/devotion, and mature in your hands/obedience/living. That is what informs the shape and content of our Sunday gatherings, our planning and prioritizing of other events, the shepherding and counseling of your elders, our practice of meaningful membership, and more.
In this, Sunday mornings are crucial, as the occasion when the whole church gathers to hear the word of God preached (head), to sing deep truths of God (heart) and to pray (heart). The significance lies both in what we are doing, and in the fact that we are doing it together, giving witness to one another in this.
The rest of the things we do as a church supplement this, largely focusing on loving God with your hands as you engage others. Some events or gatherings may be very informal, just providing context for relationships to grow naturally. Some are a bit more formal, and have components of head and heart growth.
A helpful analogy is provided by the title of a popular book on the church: a healthy church needs both a trellis and a vine: a trellis of biblically-based structure, organization, commitments, leadership, vision; and a vine of “organic,” Spirit-empowered growth into maturity and love. Structure without Spirit-empowered growth is a dead and lifeless church. Organic growth without structure quickly turns unbiblical and cultish.
Our aim is for your growing up “in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” My hope is that this overview gives you a better sense of what that growth looks like, and how you can go about pursuing it, within the context of the church.