Spiritual Maturity

In the past couple of years I have had the privilege of attending seminary at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. One of the advantages of this seminary has been its broad range of student from over 40 different countries. Between classes there is often time to meet and discuss with foreign students their impression of American Christianity. I got to know a dear brother in Christ whose name is Joseph Kim who shared with me that he reads the Bible about 4 times a year. The spiritual maturity of those outside America seem to be so much further along than those of us in the American church.
In my teaching experience over the last 10 years in church I would say that probably less than 5% of the people have even read the Bible through 1 time. When I first started into full time ministry I used to take men to lunch and ask the following 3 questions:
1. Are you have devotions on a regular basis?
2. Are you being discipled or are you discipling someone in the church?
3. Are you using your spiritual gift(s) withing the body of Christ?
There was only 1 person in all the lunches that could answer yes to all three of those basic questions.

I received feedback from a friend of mine whose son indicated that he thought I was too negative. Well am I being negative or realistic when you look at the answers to the questions above? Am I skewing the facts to be negative or am I just reporting that which is objective?

If you are reading this blog site right now just ask yourself these same questions and honestly answer these questions:
1. Have you read through the entire Bible and are you doing so this year?
2. Do you have regular devotions?
3. Are you discipling or being discipled?
4. Do you serve in the church consistent with your gift mix?

Is it surprising then why there is a lack of spiritual maturity in the church today?
Don't hear me wrong, reading the Bible, discipling others and serving according to your gift does not automatically guarantee spiritual maturity. But it does seem that those who manifest some of those disciplines listed above are making some progress in this area. My point is that overall we are not challenging those in the church, nor is there healthy accountability to encourage God-centered living!

As a former pastor can tell you from personal experience that what people sing about and raise their hands about on Sunday morning can be very different from what you see when you enter their home on Monday morning. It looks good, talks good, smells good and walks good on the outside but when you start to peel back the onion the inside doesn't match the outside.

In other articles I want to cover questions regarding theology that is preached and practiced in sub-culture groups with the church. Hopefully it will help those reading this blog to identify potential false teaching and bad doctrine that can lead to misapplication of Scripture.