I’ve been slow to update this continuing series. Sorry about that. We missed a Sunday because we were out of town and then I was sick another….
Anyway…
Jon gave a two part series on maturing in our Christian walk with a strong emphasis on the importance of having people in your life to hold you accountable.
He gave two familiar scripture references.
The first is in I Corinthians when Paul says:
[1Cr 3:1] – Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly-mere infants in Christ.
[1Cr 3:2] – I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.
[1Cr 3:3] – You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men?
The second is in Hebrews where the writer (I think Paul) says:
[Hbr 5:11] – We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.
[Hbr 5:12] – In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!
[Hbr 5:13] – Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.
[Hbr 5:14] – But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.
A couple of points that Jon made.
The first is that when we are babies, we are in diapers because we soil ourselves and do not know any better. We make a mess and stink the place up. Our Father or Mother will take the time to clean up the mess and put us in a clean diaper. The point being that when we get older, we should get to the point where we are wearing big boy pants and are not messing in them. But all too often in the Church, grown adults, those who should be mature in their faith, are still metaphorically messing their pants.
The unfortunate thing we tend to do in the Church is to ignore the giant, stinking mess. Why? Well, we are missing a proper understanding of Kingdom confrontation. In love, someone should go to the person with the giant, stinking mess and help them get cleaned. This is why it is so important to have someone in your life that you trust to tell you when you are still making messes.
Jon is that person to me. He and I have a relationship where he is free to speak into my life and I am free to speak into his. This gives both of us great peace because it frees me from worrying about if I am doing things right and allows me to focus on the future. I can rest in the assurance that if I have made a mess or am about to make one, Jon is there to remind me that I am way to amazing to be making those poor choices and to get my act together.
The sad thing is, most people never enter into a relationship like this and so go through life living in a giant, stinking mess. The Church does them a disservice by ignoring them and hoping they will get their act together or move on to another place.
The second point is that the writer of Hebrews makes a very interesting statement. He says “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.”
Think about that statement for a minute.
I believe the Bible to be the inspired Word of God. I really do. But what the writer is saying is that if the people being written to had matured like they should have, then the writer would have been able to reveal even deeper truths about Christ and the Lord….
What does that mean? Well, it would mean that these peoples lack of maturity “cost” later generations additional revelation of Christ and the Lord. I’m not advocating adding to the Bible, but he says what he says. Basically, “Hey guys, I was going to tell you about much deeper things, the mysteries of the Kingdom, but since you are still infants, Oh well, here is more milk for you.”
The point being that your maturing matters to later generations. What were those deeper insights? Who knows, we only have the writers admonishment of the people and because of that, we missed out on something. My maturity matters to my children and to future generations. If I can fully mature in my Christian walk, then my ceiling becomes my kids floor.
Take Gods love towards me. I did not come into a full understanding of Gods love for me and towards me until about 4 years ago. Now I teach my children from what I now understand. My hope is that my children will understand the amazing depths of Gods love towards them at an early age….not at 32 like I did. That’s what I mean about my ceiling becoming their floor. This will launch them further in their walk with the Lord. This will hold true to all other spiritual truths I understand and experiences I have in my life.
