“For we cannot oppose the truth, but must always stand for the truth. We are glad to seem weak if it helps show that you are actually strong. We pray that you will become mature. I am writing this to you before I come, hoping that I won’t need to deal severely with you when I do come. For I want to use the authority the Lord has given me to strengthen you, not to tear you down.”
2 Corinthians 13:8-10 NLT
There is a connection between God’s truth and the maturity of a believer. And there is a further connection between weakness in a believer and the Lord’s strength and authority. A human being can go through life in the kingdom of the world, blissfully unaware of the Kingdom of God, apart from a few vague and intangible feelings that there must be something spiritual out there. But all this changes when a believer opens the door into a new world, a spiritual world of which they have become a part. This turns out to be a life-changing event because once someone is aware of God and His Kingdom, through His Son, Jesus, there is no going back. Going forward is the only option, and to do that, God’s truth is required to lead a believer on to maturity. Of course, there are those who recoil in horror at the extent their lives will have to change, and they turn their backs on God and somehow shut out all thoughts of Him, perhaps with the vague notion that there will be plenty of time to open that door again. We pilgrims know that becoming a believer is a life-changing experience and one that will extend beyond the grave into a vast unknown spiritual domain, where we will be with God in a place Jesus called Paradise.
Paul wanted the Corinthians to become mature, and to help them, he provided several warnings that the immaturity they had been exhibiting would need to be confronted. He hoped that this would not be necessary, but the threat was hanging in the air. There were those whom Paul called the “super-apostles” present in Corinth who were subverting the believers’ faith, as they spread lies and insinuations about Paul and his colleagues, but they would not be able to stand when Paul was able in person to demonstrate the power and authority of Christ.
Paul wrote, “This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church” (Ephesians 4:13-15). The goal of “unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son” seemed rather elusive in Corinth, because they were being led astray both by their own unconfessed sins and the presence of sinful men who were misleading them by preaching a message that they wanted to hear, rather than needed to hear.
This can be a problem in our churches today, because the temptation is for the pulpit to avoid certain difficult subjects that are nevertheless required to help a believer grow in maturity. In one church I know about, there was a prominent and vociferous member who had a relative who was homosexual, and who was very sensitive about any Bible passage that revealed the truth of God’s view. At one point, this person even had the audacity to complain that these Bible passages were wrong, resulting in a sensitivity on the part of the church leadership, leading them to avoid any mention of the verses in question. The problem is that too many church people have become offended by Biblical truths and teachings, and have decided to move to another church where the teachings are less confrontative. One church I was in had a prophetic man who preached confrontational messages, but we also had a lovely pastor who helped the congregation through any difficulties that arose. Another reason why a church needs a five-fold ministry team.
Biblical truth is necessary to help a believer grow towards the goal of being mature in their faith. But there are some basics that the author of the Hebrews wrote about: “You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognise the difference between right and wrong” (Hebrews 5:12-14). That was where the Corinthians seemed to be – in the place of “need[ing][ someone to teach [them] again the basic things about God’s word”. They needed to be able to discern what was right and wrong and deal with the consequences, but were unable to do so.
Paul’s heart was to see the Corinthians set back on the right track. They had been “tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching” and needed to once again come back to the Cross of Christ, where their sins would be forgiven. A place where Paul’s fear “ … that when I come I won’t like what I find, and you won’t like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarrelling, jealousy, anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, arrogance, and disorderly behaviour” (2 Corinthians 12:20) would be groundless.
We pilgrims know that the place where we will find God and the truth of His Word is not on YouTube or one of the “God” channels on TV, good as they are sometimes. The only places where growth towards maturity can be found are in the nurseries that God has established – his churches (as long as they are Bible-believing) – and in the study of the Bible itself. Through it all is the need for prayer, asking God for His truth to be manifested in all that we hear and read.
Heavenly Father. Thank You for Your Word and the truth it contains, truth that will guide us through a world of strident voices intent on diverting us away from our road towards maturity in the faith. Please help us, we pray. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 