Private Practice. Public Faith.

We are called to pursue spiritual maturity in Christ, and our engagement with God's Word is a critical component.  In Psalm 1, we read:
1Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;2But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.3He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

In order to grow spiritual and experience the abundant life that Jesus has made available for us, it's vital that we are spending time in God's Word.  And, the promise of the Scriptures is that the Word is living and active, and our growth in Christ is directly proportional to the degree of our immersion in the Scriptures.  Our aim is not to get enough of God to get by, but to allow God to have all of us - that involves surrendering our will to His and allowing His Word to shape our thinking and to prompt our actions.  Our public demonstration of faith in Christ is an outgrowth of our private time with Christ.

This week, we've talked a little about the importance of practicing our faith publicly.  And, the expression of our walk with Jesus is an outgrowth of our private time with Him.   He taught in Mark chapter 4 about that relationship of His Word and spiritual growth, using the illustration of seed  - the seed of God's Word planted in the human heart, intended to grow and produce Godly character in our lives:
14The sower sows the word.15And these are the ones by the wayside where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan comes immediately and takes away the word that was sown in their hearts.16These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness;17and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word's sake, immediately they stumble.18Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word,19and the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.20But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred."

It is very interesting - I came across the findings of a LifeWay Research survey from the fall of 2012 which indicates we as believers could do better on our personal, private encounters with Christ as we engage His Word.

The survey found 90 percent of churchgoers agree "I desire to please and honor Jesus in all I do," and 59 percent agree with the statement: "Throughout the day I find myself thinking about biblical truths." While the majority agree with both statements, there is a significant difference in the strength of agreement. Nearly two-thirds of churchgoers (64 percent) strongly agree with the first statement, but only 20 percent strongly agree with the second.

However, when asked how often they personally (not as part of a church worship service) read the Bible, a similar number respond "Every Day" (19 percent) as respond "Rarely/Never" (18 percent). A quarter indicate they read the Bible a few times a week. Fourteen percent say they read the Bible "Once a Week" and another 22 percent say "Once a Month" or "A Few Times a Month."

LifeWay Research President Ed Stetzer is quoted as saying that, "Bible engagement has an impact in just about every area of spiritual growth...You can follow Christ and see Christianity as your source of truth, but if that truth does not permeate your thoughts, aspirations and actions, you are not fully engaging the truth."

He offers this powerful reminder: "God's Word is truth, so it should come as no surprise that reading and studying the Bible are still the activities that have the most impact on growth in this attribute of spiritual maturity...As basic as that is, there are still numerous churchgoers who are not reading the Bible regularly. You simply won't grow if you don't know God and spend time in God's Word."

The survey also reveals six actions that positively impact the Bible engagement scores of individuals.

1. Confessing wrongdoings to God and asking forgiveness.
2. Believing in Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven and the number of years one has believed this.
3. Making a decision to obey or follow God with an awareness that choosing to do so might be costly. Sixty-three percent of churchgoers say they have at least once in the last six months.
4. Praying for the spiritual status of people they know are not professing Christians.
5. Reading a book about increasing their spiritual growth. Sixty-one percent of churchgoers say they have in the last year.
6. Having been discipled or mentored one-on-one by a more spiritually mature Christian. Nearly half of churchgoers (47 percent) say they have been discipled or mentored.

Stetzer says: "Bible engagement points people toward maturity and maturing Christians have practices that correspond to Bible reading. Almost all churchgoers want to honor God, but more than a third indicate obedience is not something they have done when it is costly to them."

A little aside here: a 2009 Barna survey conducted in partnership with Living on the Edge found that a large number of churchgoers could not define spiritual maturity.  An open-ended survey question asked churchgoers to describe how their church defined a “healthy, spiritually mature follower of Jesus.” Half of churchgoers simply said they were not sure, unable to venture a guess regarding the church’s definition. 

Even among born again Christians – that is, a smaller subset of believers who have made a profession of faith in Christ and confessed their sinful nature – two out of five were not able to identify how their church defines spiritual maturity. Among those who gave a substantive response, the most common responses were having a relationship with Jesus (16%), practicing spiritual disciplines like prayer and Bible study (9%), living according to the Bible (8%), being obedient (8%), being involved in church (7%), and having concern for others (6%).

I hope this data is challenging for us.  So, the takeaways, as I see it:

First, we have to recognize the direct relationship between engaging in God's Word and spiritual maturity.  We simply cannot become the Christians God desires for us to be without intentional reading of and study of God's Word.  He intends for us to not only read the Bible, but to not put its teachings "on the shelf," sort of speak, when we leave our private places of study or our homes.   When you consider that only 20 percent of those surveyed by LifeWay even think about the truths of the Scriptures throughout the day, we recognize there is significant work to do.

Also, a working definition of spiritual maturity is very helpful.  In the Barna research, only 8% o born-again Christians said that living according to the Bible was a standard by which their church defines spiriual maturity.  Half of churchgoers couldn't even say what spiritual maturity looked like.   If we can't define it, how do we know that we have achieved some measure of it?   We do need spiritual benchmarks.   And, it's important that we identify areas in our lives that need to change and take Biblically-inspired steps to change our course.   

Realize that our areas of struggle can become areas of challenge, leading to the opportunity to achieve some measure of spiritual growth.  And, God's Word will help us identity areas of growth opportunity and provide the instruction - and the capability - in order to see His nature revealed in us.