Maturity, The Workplace, and KOS/KAT
You’re probably thinking, “What is he talking about?”
But, have you ever wondered what makes someone mature in the opinion of Jesus? And then does that have any application to my workplace?
The answer to these questions might surprise you.
This topic is one that dramatically changed my understanding of what it means to be a Christian, a Disciple-of-Jesus, a Follower-of-Jesus.
Let’s explore and see what we find out.
We will do this in three parts. The first part we will try to understand how Jesus describes a mature person. The second part we will try to get a better understanding of how the maturity definition should play out in our daily life. The third part will look at what does this have to do with the workplace.
Part 1 — Defining Maturity by Jesus’ Standards
How does God describe “Love for Him”?
Is Loving God being able to cross-reference seven different places in the Bible to prove the point you are making?
Is Loving God being able to out debate the other guy about the Bible because of your extensive Bible knowledge?
Is Loving God having a Seminary Degree? A Master or Doctorate level degree in the Bible, Ministry, or even Missions?
So … Just how does God describe “Love for Him”?
Let’s take a look at the Bible and see if it gives us any clues:
Jesus says in John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep my commandments”
Jesus says in John 14:21 “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me.”
Jesus says in Jn 14:23–24 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.”
(Stay with me here. I know it’s hard to follow the trend. But try to stay with me. Just a few more.)
Jesus says in John 15:10 “If you keep My commands, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commands and remain in His Love.”
Jesus says in John 15:14 “You are My friends if you do what I command.”
God says through John in 1 John 3:24 “The one who keeps God’s commands lives in Him, and He in them.”
God again says through John in 1 John 5:3 “In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands.”
These are Just a SAMPLING OF PASSAGES found in the Bible:
There are more verses along this same theme but I think you’re getting the idea.
Jesus doesn’t say, “If you love Me you will know a lot about Me.”
Jesus doesn’t say, “If you love Me you can out debate others with your Bible knowledge.”
Jesus doesn’t say, “If you love Me you will have Seminary degrees to prove it.”
Nope, Jesus says, “If you love Me you will do what I say.”
And He makes that very clear when addressing those following after Him in Luke 6:46–49 …
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
Jesus explains that the way to build a solid foundation is NOT by trying to build it on how much you know about Jesus and what He said. Nope, in fact, Jesus says that’s a sure way to build a house on a shaky foundation that will collapse and crumble when things get tough.
Jesus says the way you build a solid foundation that can stand up when things get tough is by learning what Jesus says (commands) AND THEN DOING (OBEYING) what He says (commands).
Did you catch that? The power. The stability. The strength comes in the Obeying — Not in the Knowledge.
Jesus is saying Knowledge is NOT Power (Contrary to current slogans and accepted Christian community thinking). Putting into practice, taking Action on, Doing, Obeying what you’ve learned is where the Power Lies.
And this is what dramatically changed my understanding of what it means to call yourself a Christian. To be a disciple of Jesus. To call yourself a follower of Jesus.
Part 2 — Practically Living Out Maturity by Jesus’ Standards
This is where KOS comes into play.
KOS stands for:
K = Knowledge
O = Obey
S = Share
Try using this model in your life as a follower of Jesus. A model that is based around Jesus’ definition of Loving Him.
Think of three vertical bar graphs.
The First represents your Knowledge — what you know of What Jesus says.
The Second represents how Much You’re Obeying of What You Know Jesus says.
The Third represents how much You’re Sharing with Others of What You Know Jesus says.
Now, visualize these three vertical bar graphs being side-by-side.
Your Objective is to keep all three of them at the same height.
Simply Think:
Learn One Thing.
Then Obey that One Thing.
Then Share that One Thing with Someone.
Simple — Right?
Yes, Knowledge is important. But so are Obeying and Sharing (to Make More Disciples)
In our Western Culture, we’ve elevated the “Knowledge” bar as more important than the others.
Western Christianity General Thinking:
This seems to be how the thinking goes with most Christians in the West.
We love to get more and more knowledge about God and the Bible so that the “Knowledge Bar” continues to grow higher and higher.
When it comes to our “Obey Bar” we pick and choose what we like. If we are comfortable doing what we’ve learned then we do it. If it makes us uncomfortable to do it then we simply choose not to do it. So our “Obey Bar” is much shorter than our “Knowledge Bar”.
When it comes to our “Share Bar” we simply say, “Well, sharing with others, that’s for evangelists and I’m not an evangelist, so that doesn’t apply to me.” And we don’t share. Our “Share Bar” stays at the zero level.
This thinking results in our Knowledge — Obey — Share bar graphs being way out of line.
Our goal is to keep them equal.
We Learn One Thing. We Obey that One Thing. We Share that One Thing with Someone.
HOW DO WE DEFINE MATURITY?
Then how do we define “Maturity” as it relates to being a Follower of Jesus?
It appears Jesus measures “Maturity” based on the Obedience of a person to what they know. Not on how much a person knows.
Who is the more mature Christian? A person with a Seminary degree or an illiterate lady in a Bedouin community in the Middle East. She knows a little of the Bible but is working to be obedient to everything she knows that Jesus has commanded?
I would say the Bedouin lady who knows less but is obeying more. Hey, the Pharisees knew a lot. Their biggest problem was obeying what they knew instead of altering what God said to fit their preferences.
What did Jesus say in the “The Great Commission”?
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to Observe (Obey) all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus told His followers to teach people to Obey Everything He had commanded. NOT to Know Everything He had commanded!
We like going to Bible Studies, listening to talks, reading books to learn more about the Bible. What we don’t like is being held accountable to put into practice (to obey) what we’ve learned. Yet Jesus says, “You say you love Me? Loving Me means doing what I say. Not learning more and more about Me.”
Remember that Jesus explained: Knowledge is NOT Power. Taking action on that knowledge is where the power lies.
Could this be why we still have 3 Billion people who have little to no chance to hear the Gospel before they die while we continue to buy more Christian books, go to more Christian conferences, listen to more sermons, go to more Christian retreats, and yet fail to obey God and get onboard with His Missionary Heart.
His heart which He makes clear from Genesis to Revelation. Which is to Make His Name Great and His Salvation Known Among Every Group of People in the World. So that there will be people from every Group of People in the World around the Throne in Heaven worshipping God forever.
Think about it. How much do you know that you’re not obeying now? Maybe we need to stop focusing on learning more in order to gain more knowledge. Maybe we need to focus on obeying what we already know BUT are not obeying.
This is why we say at DMCP365 …
“This is the Place where Christian Maturity is Measured:
Not by How Much You Know.
But by How Much You Are Obeying … of What You Know.”
What Does This Have to Do With Business?
What if you applied this same concept in the business world?
Instead of the KOS Bar Graphs we change it to the KAT Bar Graphs.
KAT = Knowledge — Act — Train. Using the same approach of striving to keep the three bar graphs at the same height.
Learn One Thing. Act on that One Thing. Train Someone in that One Thing.
Why? Because studies show you remember 10% of what you read. 30% of what you see demonstrated. 75% of what you do. But you remember 90% of what you teach others.
Want your team to really know their stuff. Have them immediately put into Action what they learned. Then have them Train someone else in what they learned.
RECAP
1. God says over and over and over that “Love for Me means doing what I say”
2. The KOS Bar Graphs (Knowledge — Obey — Share) give us a practical way to implement this concept in our daily lives as we work to keep the three graphs at the same height.
3. We’ve elevated Knowledge way above Obey and Share to the point that we continue to go after more and more Knowledge while neglecting Obeying and completely ignoring the Sharing.
4. We choose to Obey only what makes us comfortable
5. We rarely, if ever, Share with others about Jesus because we reason “I’m not an Evangelist”.
6. What we should be trying to do is keep Our Knowledge and Obeying and Sharing Bar Graphs at equal heights by having the approach of:
Learn One Thing — Obey that One Thing — Share that One Thing
Because what did Jesus say in the Great Commission?
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to Observe (Obey) all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
7. Learn One Thing. Then Obey that One Thing. Then Share that One Thing with Someone.
8. Simple? — Yes
Easy? — Not so much many times.
9. And, this concept is applicable to the business world through the KAT Bar Graph (Knowledge — Action — Train).
Next Steps to Developing God’s Heart:
YOUR CHALLENGE:
Two Questions for you To Think About:
1st Based on what God has shown me … What Am I Going to Do About It? — The Obey Bar Graph.
2nd Who am I going to Share with what God showed me? — The Share Bar Graph
Spend some time with God and listen to what He shows you in response to those questions. Then DO what He says.
Wrap Up:
Remember:
We are NOT About “Living for The Now”. We are About living NOW … FOR Eternity
Let us be about doing our Job!!!
Going out and serving as a Disciple Making Ambassador of the King (DMAK).
Until All Hear,
Brad Taylor
