The goal
of the Christian life is maturity. We are given gifts from God for the sole
purpose of bringing us to the point of maturity:
Ephesians
4:11-13
And He
gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some
as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of
service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a MATURE man, to
the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
But how do we know when we have
indeed matured:
Hebrews
5:14
But
solid food is for the mature, who BECAUSE
of practice have their SENSES TRAINED
to DISCERN good and evil.
Mature Christians
therefore are those who have had their senses trained to discern GOOD AND EVIL. Does this sound
familiar? Consider this:
Genesis
2:9
Out of
the ground the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight
and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the
tree of the knowledge of GOOD and EVIL.
What really happened in the Garden of Eden?
A
fundamental misunderstanding of what actually took place in the Garden of Eden
has spawned a host of errors in the church today. Since this is the beginning we must grasp
fully the ramifications of Adam’s actions; for in doing so our understanding of
the bible will increase exponentially.
The scriptures
tell us that Adam and Eve ate a fruit from a tree, but not just any tree but
from a tree that they were specifically told not to eat. Most people see what
Adam did as a fault, a fall, the damnation of all mankind. But was it really? Adam's
disobedience was ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.
Without this act of disobedience God's plan COULD NOT PROCEED! What really
happened was that Adam activated the process necessary for mankind to achieve
MATURITY. Now I know that there are those who believe that God could have
achieved his purpose for mankind apart from this act, but consider this if Adam
had proceeded without touching the tree then HE WOULD HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD OR EVIL!
Realize
that God instructing Adam not to eat the fruit MADE eating the fruit sin. This sin was necessary because it changed the
fundamental make up of man. After the
act man developed an affinity to sin.
You may not see this as a good thing, but know that without this
affinity to sin the man COULD NOT EVENTUALLY MATURE. It is the act of OVERCOMING sin that creates
maturity, and if there is NOTHING to overcome then maturity is not
realized. Consider Jesus’ parable of the
sower:
Luke
8:14
And that
which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and
are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection
(maturity).
This
group does not bring forth fruit BECAUSE they did not OVERCOME sin.
Adam's
act introduced the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil to mankind, BUT it did not grant
us the ability to DISTINGUISH the
difference between good and evil. This is the problem in the world today;
humankind generally CANNOT distinguish between what is good and what is evil.
Wisdom is the principal thing.
The book
of Hebrews tells us that maturity could only be achieved when we can have our
senses trained to discern between good and evil, and the tree in the midst of
the Garden of Eden was the 'tree of the knowledge of good and evil'.
The
ability to discern between good and evil can only be imparted by Wisdom. Some
think that wisdom is knowledge applied. This simplified definition does not
adequately define the concept of wisdom. Wisdom is:
Knowing what works and what would
bring assuredly the desire you hope for. Wisdom is therefore a precipitated
knowledge that is free of uncertainty.
Consider
this:
1
Corinthians 1:30a
But by
His doing you are in Christ Jesus,
who became to us wisdom from God,
Jesus
was wisdom from God incarnate:
1
Corinthians 2:6-7
Yet we
do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age
nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; but we speak God’s wisdom
in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our
glory;
And again
we see it in the parable of the sower:
Luke
8:15
But that
on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard
the word (JESUS), keep it, and bring
forth fruit with patience.
This
wisdom from God came in the form of Christ. While on earth he spoke words that
tell us how to live. These words COMPLETELY identify the difference between
what is good and what is evil. We become mature when we HEAR THE WORD, KEEP THE
WORD, and BRING FORTH FRUIT FROM THE WORD.
At this point we are able to distinguish BETWEEN good and evil. This
knowledge is based upon the wisdom of God that came in Christ.
