FERGUSON: Well, let me begin by saying ultimately
the New Testament's language for maturity belongs to a family of words that mean "completeness."
And, therefore, I think that the simplest way to describe growing in maturity to final maturity
is the kind of thing that Paul says at the end of 2 Corinthians 3 that we are being
changed from one degree of glory to another and that this comes from Christ through the Spirit
as we are transformed into His likeness. If you think about what Paul says in Romans 8:29,
that the whole goal of his predestination is that we should be conformed to the image of His Son,
then you can encapsulate the whole of the Christian life in all its ups and downs,
joys and sorrows, afflictions and triumphs, as the way in which the Father through the Spirit
is conforming us to be like His Son without ceasing to be our true selves in that Son. So that
as He conforms us to the image of Christ, Steve and I continue to speak with different accents,
we couldn't wear each other's clothes, we have very different abilities. He is characterized
by neatness of being, and I am, to be honest, characterized by
huge untidiness of being. And that conforming to Christ may loosen him up a little.
And the struggle for sanctification in my life is bound to be creating a greater order of life,
so that I am more like Christ and more like Steve Nichols without shrinking
or developing an American accent that than which nothing greater can be conceived.
THOMAS: When I was in ministry in Belfast forty years ago, I was in my mid-twenties.
My elders were in their sixties and seventies. And one of my elders, he was just a beautiful man in
every possible meaning of that word. He had never gone to college. He had worked on the railways
all his life. He had had maybe one promotion in his entire life, but when you met him, and
especially when you heard him pray at the prayer meeting, (and his prayers were lengthy. They were,
you know, fifteen minute, twenty-minute prayers as opposed to, you know, two-minute prayers)
I always thought this is what Jesus is like, that when I was in his presence I felt awe,
that there was something so godly and so Christlike
about him, about his speech, about his manner, about his marriage,
about the way he related to me, (he was old enough to be my grandfather) but when I was around him,
when I would visit him in his home, I just thought this is what Jesus is like. And I think that's
what maturity is, that when you are in their presence they remind you of what Jesus is like.
PARSONS:
I think the question regarding our maturity and Christian maturity is a very significant
matter because it pertains to everything in the Christian life. And I just want to say
one thing when it comes to maturity, that authentic maturity in the Christian life
comes fundamentally through suffering. And one of most dangerous prayers we can pray
is that God would mature us, that God would humble us, that God would grow us, because that typically
means that He will allow suffering to come into our lives. And what we do with that suffering,
how we respond to that suffering, not exploiting it but humbling ourselves
and enduring it is we fix our eyes on Christ is the only genuine path to true Christian maturity.