The always thoughtful Scot McKnight proposes that we think in terms of six levels of spiritual maturity —
Level One: I
In this level a human is self-absorbed, perceives himself or herself at the center of the universe — or acts that way, and lives a life that is shaped by self-consumption.
Level Two: I and God
In this level a human is both self-absorbed and aware of God. God is out there and “I” am here. We’re in this world together. …
Level Three: God and I
In this level a human shifts away from self-absorption to giving way to God. …
Level Four: God in Me
In this level a human has a “personal” relationship with God, often in Christian terms or quasi-Christian terms, and God is perceived as at work in “me.” … Health and wealth gospels fit here; therapeutic gospels fit here.
Level Five: I in God
In this level the perception is changing to see that it is not so much God at work to bring about “my” ambitions but that the “I” is now in this world to love and serve God and to bring about God’s “mission” (God’s ambition).
Level Six: We in God, in Christ, through the Spirit
In this level the “I” becomes welded with God’s People — the “I” is part of the Body of Christ. It is not about “me” but about what God has done and is doing and will do in Christ — life, death, burial, resurrection, exaltation, second coming, kingdom, God as All in All. …
Check out McKnight’s post for further detail. What do you think?
If there are seven ages of man, I suppose there could be six spiritual stages of man!
(Or seven….)
What's crucial – and what you, Scot McKnight and me all take for granted – is that we should keep on maturing and growing in Christ, being transformed into His image, plodding and persevering and praying.
And not cease at the third or fourth bus stop on the journey, confident that we have arrived and that we walked there on our own two legs when all we did was traverse the bus aisle.
Jay,
Did you see this article over at internetmonk?
http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/imonk-classic…
i'd be interested to know what you think of it. Do you think the author is on to something? If so, where do "real prosperity gospel" churches fit into McKnight's schema?
–guy
I agree with the gist of the post. I suppose the subtle differences in the titles of stages four through six are relevant to the culture and slang of the original author.
Personally, I understand that the scriptures use the opposite terminology to describe our spiritual journey.
The beginning point in our spiritual journey (and thus less mature stage) is described as -We in Christ-: Gal. 3:27.
The more mature stage is described as -Christ in us-: Gal. 2:20.
Although this seems trivial on the surface, respect for God's phraseology is important and indicative of weightier matters.
How about a level 7:
Moving beyond the limitations of our understandings of what God was/is/will be doing in/through us as a people to an acceptance, grounded in worship and joy, expressed in faith and honesty, of God purely on His terms, how He chooses to be, with no reference to earthly (human) metrics of success or failure.
I don't think it's coincidental that the first Christians weren't called Christians, but followers of "the way" – the Tao if you will – but made right, fulfilled, and perfectly shown through Jesus.
Being satisfied with the essence of being as shown and fulfilled through and in Christ, enabling the "no-mind" reactionary impulse that becomes an expression of "the way" because of the very living Christ inhabiting those on "the way". Is this not the "perfection" to which we are called? The state of continual prayer, of continual worship?
"Spiritual Levels" could be a useful concept in helping oneself to know what further needs to be developed in a direction to maturity.
Maybe it is because my own flesh speaks so loudly, but I could also see some misapplications. Maybe it is because I have seen things similar to all described below:
"We want everyone to fill out this Spiritual Level Assessment form and turn it in to be scored. You have to score an 8 to work in the nursery, a 12 to teach 1st grade, a 15 to ……."
"I tested at a Spiritual Level of 5 and you are only at a 4. I guess you are too self-absorbed and I'm closer to God than ……. "
"Well, I don't need to take that test because I know that I am higher than a Level 6. I have the prayer language of the Spirit, which is speaking in tongues, and you don't have ……"
Think Corinth. Think of a class of 2 year olds. (Apologies to the 2 year olds).
The "Spiritual Levels" describe a path toward God; the above are lateral blind alley side roads. If I can think of these perversions at my Spiritual Level of 0.1, someone else would too.
So, how would the usefulness of the Spiritual Levels concept be tapped without any lateral moves?
I read the Christianity now and then article recently that speaks of the comparison of people who are handicap or challenged with being spiritually handicap. The article if I understood it right claims that such handicaps are damnable. I agree there are levels of maturity. But for those who obtain it I wonder what it looks like? Is it as we achieve each level we sin less? Or do we (as we age in our faith) become graced out and need not to worry as much of our public and private sins? So many things happen along the path to God it hard to say what spiritual maturity looks like.
Guy,
iMonk writes,
"I don’t know of many Christians who want to stand up in front of a room full of unbelievers and say, 'I live in the same world as you do; a world with the same problems, the same questions and the same kinds of pain and failure. God doesn’t provide some kind of insurance or protection from this world, and Christians aren’t wise enough to understand or fix everything in this world. In some ways, you (atheists) may be wiser than any one of us. What we have to offer is the gospel of Jesus, and the truth of the gospel isn’t a pay off in this world. Whatever changes the Gospel makes in us, we remain human, fallen and in need of final rescue, redemption and resurrection. There is plenty wrong with us, and some of it is shocking and terrible. In this world, we’re on a pilgrimage to follow Jesus, to love neighbor and to live our lives in an authentically human way.'"
I find preachers of the prosperity gospel reprehensible. But I'm not willing to go to the opposite extreme and disclaim all present benefits of Christianity.
So I don't really agree with iMonk on this one, although I agree with much of what he says. I just can't go with the idea that "the truth of the gospel isn’t a pay off in this world." It is — and it's more. It's just a very different kind of pay off than worldly prosperity.
God's purpose in saving us is, among other things, to restore us to his original intentions for us — to remake us into his image, meaning that a redeemed person will be less broken than an unredeemed person.
However, that hardly means we'll be free from hardship. Ask Paul! It does mean we'll have a joy and the thrill of God's presence not available to others.
Salvation is about more than getting to go to heaven when we die. We are saved in the present for the present and for the future. God's blessings aren't all deferred.
And so, while Christians aren't immunized from the vicissitudes of life, there is a pay off today — and my congregation is filled with people who will tearfully testify to that fact with not a thought of the prosperity "gospel."
Jay,
i think you're right. i guess i didn't take the article to be claiming that there are *no* earthly pay-offs. i understood it to be claiming that the gospel offers no guarantees that we will have the kind of earthly benefits that a lot of Christians seem to assume we're supposed to have just because we're Christians.
That is, even if you reject the regular prosperity gospel, you can still have a permutation of the same idea. Even if i don't believe God wants me to be rich and healthy such that they are reliable indicators of faith, i can still be under the mistaken impression that i'll have other comparable benefits and those will serve as faith indicators. i could list a lot of things because depending on one's congregation the candidates could be a little different.
But i think general happiness is one. Christians are supposed to be "happier" than atheists, some make it seem. i have a hope they don't have and support they don't have, but i guess i don't see where i'm ever promised i'll be happy all the time. i don't see where i should expect that being a Christian means i won't still experience and contribute to major relationship dysfunction. i don't see where i should expect that being a Christian means that i will always be an excellent parent, and i won't have any major behavioral or moral problems with my children.
i could go on, but the point is, i think i have definitely gotten the impression before that having these features is characteristic of a good, faithful Christian. i'd say i definitely get that impression from listening to the evangelical talk radio stations. It's never put this way, but Christ is sometimes presented as a psychological savior–He can rescue you from all your unhappiness. And it seems to me that is definitely a version of the prosperity gospel.
i mean, c'mon, doesn't the Bible indicate that following God can actually make your life suck sometimes? i'm thinking about Hosea or Job or Moses. It was just because of their faithfulness to God that they experienced a great deal of emotional trauma in their life. There were lots of occasions when they weren't very happy people, they didn't have excellent home lives, they weren't the best in relationships, and yet they were faithful.
But some people think and act as though if we were all good Christians, we just wouldn't have these kinds of problems.
–guy
Guy,
I agree. Yes, the life of a Christian can be pretty awful. But that doesn't mean there are no guarantees.
Consider a Christian parent who loses a young child. That's awful, nearly unbearable, and I've seen it happen. Some lose their faith because they think God broke his promises.
But it's still better for a Christian — who knows he'll see that child again, alive and well, and who has a community of believers to surround him in love and encouragement.
It's not that problems magically disappear, but that your perspective on problems change. It's more than that, but it's past my bedtime.
So I think we are in full agreement here.