Today is the third and final installment of our little mini-series looking at the marks of what makes up a mature believer. To recap part 1 and part 2, we’ve seen from Colossians 1:9-11 that…

1. A mature Christian knows biblical true (1:9a)
2. A mature Christian applies biblical truth (1:9b)
3. A mature Christian desires to please the Lord (1:10a)
4. A mature Christian produces good works (1:10b)

This week, we conclude our look at this passage with the last three marks. I trust that as we face these truths from God’s word, we’re going to sense the challenge they bring to our own lives as we do an honest assessment of our spiritual health.

A mature Christian continues to grow spiritually

The mature Christian is not stagnant. He’s not lagging. He’s not content where he is. When you place his life on a chart, there is a slow but steady uphill climb. We see this at the end of verse 10: “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.”

Now, there’s a couple of things going on here. First, there’s the action of the believer. He’s increasing—growing—being built up. All of those are different ways the term is used. At times, it takes the form of a crop that is growing in size (1 Cor 3:6-7). At other times, it’s used to speak of a building that’s getting bigger and bigger as it continues to be constructed (Eph 2:21). This is the essential concept of increasing—of maturing.

But second, there’s also an indication of how this growth occurs. It happens “in the knowledge of God,” or even better, “by the knowledge of God.” That is to say, Paul’s not praying for his readers to increase their knowledge—getting more and more and more knowledge. He’s already prayed that they be filled with knowledge.

Rather, he’s talking about how they grow and increase. It’s “by the knowledge of God.” Spiritual maturity and growth takes place as the believer continues to feed on the riches of the Word of God, and the Spirit of God operates to drive the truth of the Word deeper and deeper into his heart. We see this stated elsewhere in Scripture.

Peter offers a magnificent picture of the power of God’s word to affect our spiritual life when he writes in 1 Peter 2:2, “Like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation.”

I love the picture he creates with that statement. It reminds me of the birth of my own children. I have three boys, Desmond, Weston, and Thatcher. I remember when they were born, how tiny they were, and how vulnerable. I remember those precious moments of holding Desmond in my arms for the first time—my first child—he seemed weightless in my arms. And Weston—a tiny little 3-pound baby. I remember going into the NICU most days of the week when he was first born and holding him. Other parents told me to cherish those moments because they’ll be grown up so fast, and to not wish they would get bigger. And I agree. I miss those tiny little babies.

On the other hand, I would not be content if my boys stayed as infants. And no, it’s not because of the crying and the sleepless nights. It’s because they’re not supposed to stay small. Infants are supposed to get bigger. They’re supposed to have fat rolls. When they don’t gain weight over time, it signals that there’s a problem. We faced that issue with our third son, Thatcher, who was having a tough time gaining weight. We had to work with our doctors to figure out what was going on.

In the same way, a Christian should be growing and getting spiritually bigger. So when that’s not happening, it should signal that something is wrong. Very often, it’s simply a calorie issue. You just aren’t getting enough spiritual milk. Other times, however, there’s other things going on. There’s spiritual issues to deal with, sins that are hidden that need to be confessed and repented of, relationships that are broken that need to be reconciled. And when they do, that’s called progress! But when they don’t, it’s called stagnancy, and that is not a mark of a mature Christian.

A mature Christian shows strength during trials

So the mature Christian desires to please God, produces good works, and continues to grow spiritually. But he also shows strength during trials. We see this in verse 11: “being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy.”

Jesus promised us that in this life, we will have trouble. And if any of God’s promises have come true, that one has. Life is wracked with trials. Some are external circumstances that overtake us—we lose our job, making finances tight. The pressures of life close in. Our house burns down in a fire. We experience great pain through some medical condition or accident. A loved one dies. The list goes on and on.

Then there’s the trials that come at the hands of unbelievers. You’re ostracized at work because you’re a Christian. You’re put in a position where you have to make difficult decisions and risk relationships in order to stand up for the truth. You undergo some type of persecution because you won’t participate in something you know isn’t pleasing to God.

But then there’s also the reality of living life as a sinner among sinners. You’re a believer, but you live with a spouse who’s not. Or maybe they are a believer, but there’s just times when they drive you crazy. Your kids are just at that age—6—or 16—and they really test you. Even within the church, we have personal struggles—relational issues where we disagree or come to bad terms or really have difficulties with this person or that.

Whatever scenario might be in place, there is a strength to the mature Christian that is absent in one who’s immature. The reason for this is because the mature Christian understands the source of spiritual strength. It’s right there in the text—strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might.

The idea here is that God’s glory—His attributes at work—provide the believer with a kind of power unavailable to them anywhere else. This isn’t some kind of strength you can conjure up on your own. It’s a divine power and it’s available to the believer. And the mature Christian understands how to possess it.

The immature Christian experiences the trials and tribulations of life, and they try to be strong by hunkering down, by trying to get through it. Listen to how Paul dealt with perhaps the greatest difficulty of his life:

⁷ So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

Paul came to the place where he understood that humility was the attitude that unlocked the flow of God’s power. He had to recognize his own weakness—his inability to do anything about his situation.

That kind of attitude produces two things: steadfastness and patience. The first has to do with endurance with respect to things—trials, outside stresses, persecutions, etc. The second has to do with people. It’s being longsuffering towards people you may be tempted to lash out at.

A mark of maturity is a humility that gives the believer the ability to endure anyone and anything through a supernatural power that strengthens him.

A mature Christian remains thankful for the gospel

Finally, the mature Christian remains thankful for the gospel. He never loses sight of the gospel. His theology won’t let him. He knows that everything he has and is comes from the fact that the Lord first loved him. Verse 12 says, “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the sins in light.”

There’s so much we could unpack in this verse, but I want to focus on what Paul says is a qualifying mark of a mature Christian—thankfulness. As we said before, the Colossian believers came from godless pagan backgrounds. They were, as he describes the Ephesian readers (and all of us), “Dead in our trespasses and sins…formerly living in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath” (Eph 2:1-3).

But then the gospel came to them, a miracle he alludes to when he says that the Father qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Before the gospel, they were unfit for anything in God’s kingdom, but then God took sinners disqualified for heaven and he qualified them. And it’s that reality that Paul says should be the impetus for the believer’s thankfulness.

A few years back, Albert Mohler penned an article on the topic of thanksgiving which is especially apropos to our discussion here. He began his article with this astute assertion:

Thanksgiving is a deeply theological act, rightly understood. As a matter of fact, thankfulness is a theology in microcosm — a key to understanding what we really believe about God, ourselves, and the world we experience.

Mohler then goes on to develop this thought by pointing his readers to Romans 1 and what it says about the different between the believer and the unbeliever:

This remarkable passage has at its center an indictment of thanklessness. They did not honor Him as God or give thanks. Paul wants us to understand that the refusal to honor God and give thanks is a raw form of the primal sin. Theologians have long debated the foundational sin — and answers have ranged from lust to pride. Nevertheless, it would seem that being unthankful, refusing to recognize God as the source of all good things, is very close to the essence of the primal sin. What explains the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden? A lack of proper thankfulness was at the core of their sin. God gave them unspeakable riches and abundance, but forbade them the fruit of one tree. A proper thankfulness would have led our first parents to avoid that fruit at all costs, and to obey the Lord’s command. Taken further, this first sin was also a lack of thankfulness in that the decision to eat the forbidden fruit indicated a lack of thankfulness that took the form of an assertion that we creatures — not the Creator — know what is best for us and intend the best for us.

He goes on to conclude his article with a reminder of the thankfulness that the Christian has in light of the gospel of grace:

Sinners saved by the grace and mercy of God know a thankfulness that exceeds any merely human thankfulness. How do we express thankfulness for the provision the Father has made for us in Christ, the riches that are made ours in Him, and the unspeakable gift of the surpassing grace of God? As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift” [2 Corinthians 9:15].

Conclusion

Colossians 1:9-12 is Paul’s prayer for a brand new church. They were in danger, but they hadn’t given in. And he wants them to come to maturity­—to grow up in Christ.

How about you? The challenge we have is to look at this passage and to give ourselves a close evaluation—to ask ourselves, “How am I doing?”

How’s your thinking? Do you know biblical truth? Do you understand biblical theology? Do you love to spend time in Scripture? Do you read good books on the Bible? Do you make it a habit to come under the teaching of those at the church who endeavor to explain the Bible to you? Can you take what you know of the Bible and apply it the various aspects of life?

And how’s your life? Do you find yourself thinking through scenarios and asking what will please God the most? Do you see fruit in your life? Are you growing? Have you progressed in your faith from where you were last year? Do you remain strong during difficult circumstances? Do you reach for strength through humility? Are you able to patiently endure with people and events? Are you thankful? Do you remember from where you came and what God’s done in your life?

These are the marks of spiritual maturity. Let’s, all of us, make an honest assessment of where we are in our faith and strive to grow in our faith, all the while relying on the Lord to make it happen.