Knowing God – Spiritual Stagnation
The great majority of believers never move past the stage of spiritual infancy. After conversion they try and hang on and wait for the rapture or death to take them to the next dimension of existence. They are not totally to blame. They have been taught by pastors and teachers that heaven and eternal life are not present but eschatological (future) realities. And so they fold their hands and wait for heaven.
Another reason for spiritual stagnation is the fear of being wrong. This too has its roots in the church. With a history of persecution of saints deemed heretical and the expulsion or excommunication of ministers who dared to challenge fundamental beliefs very few are bold enough to tread beyond the shallow depths of biblical revelation or even that of church creeds and statements of beliefs. In fact, we fear the word ‘revelation’ and we become suspicious of anyone who dares to breach the fortress of our fathers’ doctrines. As such, there is nothing new, or stimulating, coming from most pulpits today. Many sermons today are cut-and-paste from Spurgeon, Moody, Finney, Meyer, and other luminaries from centuries ago. That we are still so enamored with the writings of saints of old speaks not so much to their luminosity as it does to our own spiritual bankruptcy. We simply have nothing new to bring to the table and that because we are either too lazy to ‘search out the matter’ that God has hidden for kings, or we are afraid that we might be wrong if we posit any idea that challenges conventional beliefs.
A third reason for stagnation is a failure to understand the meaning of biblical revelation. For many the word ‘revelation’ is anathema. I grew up in a church where this word was literally banned from use. Try using illumination or enlightenment or insight or impression but never the dreaded ‘r’ word if you do not want to be come under ministerial censure. But if there is no more revelation then why would the apostle pray for us to have the Spirit of revelation (Ep.1:15-21)?
The apostle is actually saying that without the Spirit of revelation in the knowledge of Christ we cannot know the hope of our calling, or the riches of our inheritance, or the greatness of our power, and that we will not be able to truly understand what Christ accomplished for us through his death, resurrection, ascension and session at the Father’s right hand. In other words, natural intellect cannot pierce the depths of the monumental work of Christ and its significance of the church, which is his body. We need the Spirit.
Remember, “This is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (Jn.17:3). The more we know Christ, personally and intimately, the more we realize the gift of eternal life.