How much do I want to grow, to mature in the Lord?
In listening to the litanies of thankfulness this past month from friends—from both believers and non—I have not heard once that someone was thankful for their pastor. I have heard thanks for family and friends, for colleagues and students, for homes and children. But not once have I heard someone be thankful for their pastor.
Now part of that might be because many folks either only attend church irregularly and see their pastor as simply part of the environment of that social situation. Some of it might be that they attend such a large church that they really have no relationship with their pastor except as a Sunday morning speaker. For the vast majority (perhaps for all?), certainly our pastors are no longer our rabbis with us as talmid. These pastors are no longer the ones who personally disciple us, who check on our spiritual growth, who hold our feet to a certain standard of living, who challenge us to be better than we want to be. Many pastors have become spaghetti throwers, throwing some spiritual rhetoric at the wall and seeing if anything sticks, rather than being deliberate, strategic spiritual leaders who demand that we “grow up.” If they made such demands, if our pastors became those who were intimately involved in our lives, pushing us kicking and screaming to the next spiritual level, I think they would be high on the list of those for whom we are grateful.
The author of Hebrews writes: We have much to say that is hard to explain, since you have become dull in understanding. This word actually means more than uninteresting or stupid. It means lazy, languid, slothful (Strong’s G3576). Thus, it is not about ability, but rather about motivation, choice. There is a real sense of becoming dull through a lack of use or participation. The writer goes on to compare this state of dullness with those who are not dulled: those whose faculties have been trained by practice. “Trained by practice.” Spiritual maturity is about exercise, repetition, strategic and deliberate attempts to grow more mature in the Lord.
The other day, I was working on a short medley with one of my more advanced singing groups. These girls, who work with me for more than two hours a week, simply couldn’t get a very brisk part of the medley. Every time we sang it, the majority of them glossed over the words. It was both pathetic and scary as we were facing a major concert in two weeks. When I asked how many actually knew that part only about one third raised their hands. So, in an effort to teach the others, I had the girls who didn’t know the words to align themselves in small groups with a girl who did. Around the room were a number of small circular groups, two or three girls standing very close to one other girl. I then picked up my mic (so everyone could hear) and began to sing the selection a capella. At first I sang it slowly so that all of the girls could more easily follow along with the printed music. But as we repeated that portion of the song over and over, I increased the tempo. We must have sung that selection at least thirty times if not more. Every three or four times, I would stop and ask if any needed more practice. If a hand went up, we sang it again. At the end of about 15 minutes of practice, every girl had the song down.
What principles did I use to move these girls from unskilled to proficient?
● I encouraged them to find someone else who was already proficient and align themselves with that person.
● I provided structured practice at a pace that allowed for learning.
● I increased the pace until they had all reached the required tempo for performance.
● I made them check their own proficiency level, to self-monitor their own progress.
● I didn’t allow them to stop until they “got it.”
Why did these principles work?
● I set a goal and refused to be satisfied until every participant had achieved the goal.
● I required the community (of, in this case, singers) to become responsible for the growth of all members.
● I outlined the reason for the growth so that everyone had buy in to the process.
When we finished with this part of the rehearsal, I brought the girls back together as a larger group and said, “That is how you practice.” For most of them, their idea of practice was to do something once or twice and go onto something else. To really practice was new to many; it was a revelation.
As believers, we can take these same principles—which are alluded to in Hebrews—and use them in our own lives, in our families, and in our churches to push us on to greater maturity in the Lord. Why don’t we? I think that many pastors don’t push their churches because they truly believe that their congregations either aren’t ready for greater spiritual maturity or aren’t interested in growing. Few in their congregations—if any—encourage them as pastors to push ahead into the uncharted areas of the harder things of God, to encourage us as believers to become more sacrificial in our living, more dedicated to the things of God, more committed to reaching past ourselves to minister to a dying world. The writer of Hebrews writes: We have much to say. Therefore, let us go on toward perfection. I’m convinced that these words are not about the perfection that comes in death, in heaven, when we see the Lord face to face, but the perfection about which John Wesley writes:
“The one thus born again not only does not commit sin, while he thus keeps himself, he cannot sin. By sin I here understand outward sin, according to the plain, common acceptation of the word: an actual, voluntary transgression of the law of God—the revealed, written law of God. Sin is the breaking of any commandment of God acknowledged to be such at the time it is transgressed. So long as he believes in God through Christ, and loves Him, and is pouring out his heart before Him, he cannot voluntarily transgress any command of God. Yet if he does not ‘keep himself,’ he may commit all manner of sin with greediness.”
Wesley was convinced that it was possible for believers to so keep themselves in the love and presence of God as to be able to not choose sin. Unfortunately, I think we have so little practice of keeping ourselves in the presence of God—of loving Him as we ought—that we find ourselves full of sin that we don’t even want to admit or face. So we live “as best we can” and refuse to go on toward perfection. We refuse to practice distinguishing good from evil and continually allow our teachers and pastors to re-lay the basic foundations of the faith, being content to stay as little children. If we want to grow up, we need to not only begin to take responsibility for our own faith, we need to encourage our pastors to become challenging teachers who push us further than we thought we could go. We need to give our pastors permission to dig into our lives, to hold us accountable for our actions, to become the Pauls, Peters, and Timothys that we so desperately need to lead us from babyhood to adulthood for the glory of God.
© 2011 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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