
Exploring the Text: The measure of maturity
As Jesus wraps up this discourse in Matthew 24 and 25, he ends by taking about this judgment. He says people will be divided into two groups, like sheep are separated from goats. On one hand will be those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the outsider, took care of the sick, and visited those in prison. On the other hand are those who did none of those things. Notice that they were not judged on what they knew, what they understood, or how close they felt to God. The measure was what they did; how they acted.
Also notice that those who were rejected were surprised. They thought they were doing well and they tried to plead their case. They argued that they had never seen Jesus in any of these situations, but they had failed to recognize Jesus in those around them. They cared about their relationship with Jesus; he cared about their relationship with others.
We sometimes try to measure our spiritual maturity by what we know. We try to grow in our faith and in our relationship with God by learning more about the Bible and about him. We do Bible studies, we listen to sermons, and we try to accumulate all of the knowledge that we can believing that this will help us grow in Christlikeness. Jesus has other ideas, however. He measures our maturity not by what we know but by how well we love. The first group loved well, the second one did not. The Bible makes it clear that love is the measure of our maturity. Jesus says that people will know we are his disciples if we love one another (John 13:35). When asked for the greatest commandment, Jesus tied the idea of loving God with loving others (Matthew 22:37-39). Paul talked about the priority of loving others (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). John says that any who does not love does not know God (1 John 4:7-8) and that we cannot say we love God while not loving others (1 John 4:20-21). Love is the measure of maturity, If we want to be more like Jesus, it is not about how much we know, but about how much we love.
David Dalton
As Jesus wraps up this discourse in Matthew 24 and 25, he ends by taking about this judgment. He says people will be divided into two groups, like sheep are separated from goats. On one hand will be those who fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the outsider, took care of the sick, and visited those in prison. On the other hand are those who did none of those things. Notice that they were not judged on what they knew, what they understood, or how close they felt to God. The measure was what they did; how they acted.
Also notice that those who were rejected were surprised. They thought they were doing well and they tried to plead their case. They argued that they had never seen Jesus in any of these situations, but they had failed to recognize Jesus in those around them. They cared about their relationship with Jesus; he cared about their relationship with others.
We sometimes try to measure our spiritual maturity by what we know. We try to grow in our faith and in our relationship with God by learning more about the Bible and about him. We do Bible studies, we listen to sermons, and we try to accumulate all of the knowledge that we can believing that this will help us grow in Christlikeness. Jesus has other ideas, however. He measures our maturity not by what we know but by how well we love. The first group loved well, the second one did not. The Bible makes it clear that love is the measure of our maturity. Jesus says that people will know we are his disciples if we love one another (John 13:35). When asked for the greatest commandment, Jesus tied the idea of loving God with loving others (Matthew 22:37-39). Paul talked about the priority of loving others (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). John says that any who does not love does not know God (1 John 4:7-8) and that we cannot say we love God while not loving others (1 John 4:20-21). Love is the measure of maturity, If we want to be more like Jesus, it is not about how much we know, but about how much we love.
David Dalton