Maturity is not what you know, but what you do with what you know. It is God’s people acting in obedience to what has been revealed to them! You see, knowledge is not the same as discipleship or spiritual maturity, it’s just not. For years I’ve heard people shout in protest and warning to the mega-church movement, “It’s possible to be a mile wide and an inch deep.” Thank you for pointing that out “Caption Obvious” I’ll affirm and heed the warning. But what scares me to death for the Church of America today is the more subtle and more probable trapping of being a mile deep and an inch wide. Or, at least the appearance of it. For years in Churches across America we’ve concerned ourselves with dumping more information into our people through countless sermons, bible studies, Sunday School lessons, and prayer meetings. Information, information, information, and oh yes, a little more information. What the Church needs are leaders who will call people to action and motivate people to stop just simply coming to church and start being the church. To be obedient to what they know. How sad is it that many Christians I know will forget more about the Bible in their lifetime than most people will ever hear about or have the opportunity to know? The Scriptures would seek to teach us that knowledge that does not lead to obedience ends up leading us to an arrogant attitude, an exclusivist mindset, a judgmental spirit, and all sorts of sin that destroys the work of God in the Church and around the world. At Verge 2010 Ed Stetzer gave a talk that should stir your heart up on this issue more than a little bit. So you can process this a bit further I’ve put in a couple of short clips and quotes from that talk for you below.
“Any system that disempowers and demotivates the people of God is unhelpful and perhaps sinful.” Ed Stetzer
“The greatest sin in most churches is that we have made it okay to sit there week after week and do nothing, and call yourself a follower of Jesus.” Ed Stetzer
Posted in Leadership, Spiritual Formation
