Building up believers and the New Testament church
Spiritual Maturity
Knowledge
If we have obeyed God in adding virtue as He directs, we prepare ourselves to be able to learn the plan of God. God does not put a premium on ignorance. The natural mind cannot comprehend the things of God, but we have been brought into a relationship with Jesus, and He wants to teach us. This is where we need teachers who, by the ability of God, can lay a good foundation in our lives. God wants us to understand His plan and His ways. Here was Paul's direction to Timothy: "But as for you, continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus" (II Tim. 3:14,15).
The knowledge we are speaking about is not just an intellectual knowledge, but rather an understanding in life, in experience, of what God is doing and how He is doing it. God's method is men, men filled with the Holy Ghost who know what God is doing and who feed us with milk and solid food to bring us to a place of maturity. We need to "know such men" and then give them a proper place in our lives so that we can be grounded in truth. These men are those who meet the qualifications laid down in the scriptures, and are God's gifts to us for our building up.
There is an attitude in our day that says in effect: "I can make it on my own." This is a spirit of pride and self-sufficiency with which we must allow God to deal. I need the other members of the body of Christ and their input in my life under the direction of God. I need to recognize those whom God has brought into my life for this purpose. They do not take the place of the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit works through these chosen vessels for our good and God's glory. God's plan is perfect, and we need to understand His plan and then submit to His working within His plan. This will bring us to a place of true understanding, in which we will be able to discern and not be tossed by everything that comes our way.
