Teaching Summary: Knowing Jesus Deeply and Following him Faithfully
Psalm 1 says the blessed person is like a tree planted by streams of water—bearing fruit in season, with leaves that never wither. That’s the picture of maturity: rooted and fruited.
We often look around at circumstances and wonder why we don’t feel blessed. But blessing flows less from what happens outside us than from what God is forming inside us. A healthy person is a growing person, and a growing person is a blessed person.
Ephesians 4 tells us that Christ gave the church leaders “to equip his people… until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” That’s our goal: to grow into maturity.
So what does maturity look like, and how do we get there? It doesn’t happen overnight. Growth takes time, and it usually unfolds in stages.
Four Stages of Spiritual Growth
Starting – Where most begin. Lots of energy and activity for Jesus, but often shallow roots. We avoid conflict, deny emotions, and confuse busyness or Bible knowledge with maturity.
Deepening – Busyness alone no longer satisfies. God invites us beneath the surface to face wounds, family patterns, hidden motives, and unprocessed emotions. This stage is often uncomfortable but deeply formative.
Integration – Spiritual health and emotional health meet. We slow down, embrace limits, and choose vulnerability over image. Discipleship begins to feel like wholeness, not just knowledge.
Union with Christ – The goal of maturity. We love well—God, ourselves, and others. Relationships become compassionate and safe. Our service flows from inner life, and we radiate the non-anxious presence of Jesus.
Seeing these stages helps us know where we are and where we can grow. But how do we recognize maturity in real life?
To know Jesus Deeply
Paul says in Philippians 3: “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord… I want to know Christ.” Notice: not “know about Christ,” but know Him. Christianity is not just adopting ideas—it’s entering a relationship.
Like knowing a close friend, maturity means sharing life with Jesus, walking with Him in joy and sorrow, and letting Him know us. The psalmist prayed, “One thing I ask… to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).
Love for Jesus is:
Relational — not transactional.
Cultivated by presence — practiced in prayer, Scripture, worship, and daily life.
Expressed in obedience — not to earn love, but to show ours.
Tested by competing affections — possessions, approval, or success cannot satisfy.
Sustained by His love for us — “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
This is the starting line of maturity: knowing Jesus deeply.
But love, if it is real, moves into action.
To know Jesus deeply is to:
Follow Jesus Faithfully
In John 15 Jesus says: “Remain in me, as I also remain in you.”
He calls Himself the true vine, which means there are false vines: achievement, approval, comfort, control. They promise life but cannot deliver. Every branch attached to them eventually withers.
We cannot cling to Jesus while also holding onto false vines. Maturity means saying no to every other master, teacher, and ideology, and choosing to remain in Christ alone.
Remaining isn’t glamorous. It looks like steady, daily faithfulness—praying when answers are slow, forgiving when it hurts, showing up in worship when we don’t feel like it. As Eugene Peterson wrote, discipleship is “a long obedience in the same direction.”
And the promise is sure: “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit” (John 15:5). Fruit takes time, but it always comes.
Why do so many settle for immaturity? Because growth costs something.
Immaturity costs less up front but more in the long run—leaving us unstable, shallow, and vulnerable. Maturity costs more up front—comfort, control, self-reliance—but leads to resilience, joy, and fruitfulness. Jesus said the Father prunes fruitful branches so they will bear even more. Every cut is love, every loss makes space for greater life.
Belief is just the beginning. Jesus calls us beyond believing to becoming—rooted, fruited, mature. To know Him deeply. To follow Him faithfully. To embrace pruning and bear lasting fruit.
Choose the true vine. Remain in Him. And watch His life flow into yours.
