Sunday
Morning Bible Study
May 7, 2006
Introduction
Today we’re going to talk a bit about growing up …
Illustration
All Grown UP
They say you’re not a kid anymore WHEN...
You quit trying to hold in your stomach, no matter who walks into the room.
You enjoy watching the news.
The only reason you’re still awake at 4 am
is indigestion.
People ask what color your hair USED to be.
You start singing along with the elevator music.
You consider coffee one of the most important things in life.
8 AM is your idea of “sleeping in”.
You say the words “Turn that music down!”
You wear black socks with sandals.
You point out what buildings used to be where.
You know all the warning signs of a heart attack.
Today we’re going to talk about what it’s like to grow up as a Christian,
and how to grow up.
Ephesians 4:13-16
:13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ;
the unity of the faith
In Paul’s day, the issue was the division between the Jews and the Gentiles
within the church. One of the results of the ministry of apostles, prophets,
etc. should be the unity of the church, the Jews and Gentiles accepting each
other.
In our day, the ministry of pastor/teachers ought to be instructing us
towards the unity of the church, not the dividing of the church.
to the measure of the stature … – helikia – stature, i.e in height and comeliness of stature
The Body of Christ needs to grow up to be mature, like Jesus.
Illustration
Something we do in our family from time to time is to have our kids stand
behind us back to back to see how much they’ve grown. We see how close they are
to being as tall as mom or as tall as dad.
The church needs to keep growing with the goal of being as “tall” as Jesus.
To be as pure, as loving, as gracious, as forgiving as Jesus.
Lesson
Growing up
Our goal as Christians and as a church is to grow up.
Paul called the Corinthians immature, “carnal”, “babes”.
(1 Cor 3:1-4 NKJV) And
I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as
to babes in Christ. {2} I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until
now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able;
Peter talks about the “pure milk of the Word” (1Pet. 2:2),
but here the idea of “milk” is more like “baby food” in contrast with adult
food. He’s calling them babies.
{3} for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and
divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? {4} For
when one says, "I am of Paul," and another, "I am of
Apollos," are you not carnal?
The thing that pointed to their immaturity was their
inability to get along with each and how they were divided.
Sign of Immaturity
#1: Division. Thinking your group is better than everyone
else.
The writer to the Hebrews rebukes his readers because they too were
immature.
(Heb 5:9-14 NKJV) And
having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who
obey Him, {10} called by God as High Priest "according to the order of
Melchizedek," {11} of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since
you have become dull of hearing. {12} For though by this time you ought to be
teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the
oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. {13} For
everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness,
for he is a babe. {14} But solid food belongs to those who are of full age,
that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil.
It seems that “milk” here would refer to the basics, like
how be forgiven and find salvation.
“Solid food” or “meat” is what mature people eat as
opposed to simply milk.
The person that is old enough to eat the “meat” of the
word is a person who has learned by experience what is right and wrong, a
person who has learned to walk in obedience to the Lord.
Sometimes we get to thinking that the “meat” is the “deep”
things, something that makes you go “wow, I never saw that before …”. But the
key to “meat” is obedience to the Lord. It may involve some “wow” things, but
it really centers on whether or not you have learned to walk in a manner that
is pleasing to the Lord.
Sign of Immaturity
#2: Disobedience. You don’t take God seriously when He asks you
to do something.
:14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning
craftiness of deceitful plotting,
The Greek words Paul uses here speak of violent storms that toss boats
around on the ocean.
The thing that tosses immature Christians around is bad “doctrine”, bad
“teaching”.
Lesson
Strange winds
It seems that there’s always some “new” thing going through the churches.
Sometimes it’s things that come from inside the church
Years ago it was being “slain” in the Spirit where people
would fall over when they were prayed for.
Then there were the years when the latest thing was to
have “holy laughter” in the church where people were supposedly baptized with
the Holy Spirit and they would break out into uncontrollable laughter. Then
people started barking like dogs.
There was even a church in South America that claimed that
when people were filled with the Holy Spirit, that they would get gold dust in
their hair (which proved to be a hoax, it was just gold plastic).
Sometimes it’s things that come from outside the church.
This year we have this supposed new “gospel of Judas”
which has popped up to tell us that Judas was really misunderstood and that he
was really the good guy trying to help Jesus win freedom from his physical
body.
In a few weeks we’ll be talking more and more about the
silly ideas that are found in the book and upcoming movie, “The DaVinci Code”. Starting next week
I’ll be giving two weeks to address the book and it’s problems.
Sign of Immaturity #3: Easily swayed. You find yourself looking for the latest
“thing” in spiritual things.
Lesson
The danger of the “new thing”
I think that one of the aspects of being human that gets us into trouble is
our love for the “new thing”.
I imagine that it’s not a bad thing to put a sticker that says “new” on a
product, I imagine it helps things sell better. Most of us are always looking
for the new or updated version of the thing we want.
Illustration
There’s a commercial where a guy is on his morning jog
through the park. He passes a couple of folks who are also on their morning
run. They all have their ipods or headsets on as they run. But this guy is
carrying a big boombox on his shoulder as he runs.
There’s another commercial where everyone is sitting
around in a place like Starbucks with their Blackberries and laptops, hard at
work. But in the background you hear an old, familiar sound. It’s the tap, tap,
tap of an old IBM typewriter. Then you see
the guy at the table in the middle of the store typing away on an old
Selectric.
The tagline on both commercials is, “Time to upgrade?” Then
they want you to buy a new car …
“New and improved” may be a good idea with things like tires and cell
phones, but there are some things where “new” isn’t necessarily “improved”.
Getting a “new” wife or a “improved” husband is not what you think it is. It’s
best to stay where you are and work on things.
The same goes for areas of “doctrine” in the church.
That doesn’t mean that we have to sing the same old boring hymns with the
pipe organ every week. That’s church “practice”, not “doctrine”.
But when it comes to what the Bible teaches, you ought to be careful with
someone who thinks they can do better than what the Bible says.
Over the years, a good test for the things that go blowing through the
church is to ask three questions: Is it taught in the Gospels? Is it practiced
in the book of Acts? Is it explained in the Epistles?
If it’s not, then it just might be another one of those
“winds”.
I guess you could say that a mark of a “mature” believer
is one who is in the Word enough to recognize these silly “winds”.
:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who
is the head; Christ;
We’ll talk more about this in a minute.
:16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint
supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its
share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
We are all a part of the body of Christ.
And if I’m following Paul correctly here, he is saying that two things
cause the growth of the body.
Jesus –He’s the “head”, the one from whom the whole body is grown up from.
You – you are a part of the body, and the body needs each of us to do our
part to grow up.
Lesson
Growth Tip #1: Be a part
You and I are all parts of the Body of Christ. We all have different functions, but we’re
all important for the Body to work properly.
Illustration
A while ago I had my silly accident where I fell off the back of a truck
and injured my arm. At first I was
pretty satisfied that it was only my left arm that was injured. I’m right handed. But as time has worn on, I’ve become more and
more aware of how much I need and use my left arm/wrist/hand. Silly little things like how I put my shirt
on in the morning, how I brush my teeth, even how I blow my nose. I found that it started taking me three times
the amount of time just to get ready in the morning. Then there’s things like lifting boxes,
moving furniture, things that are important when it comes to moving an
office.
Saying it was “just my left arm” wasn’t enough to fix the problem of missing
it.
You and I are all important to the church.
It doesn’t matter whether you think you’re “just a left arm”, God wants
to use you. The church functions much
better when you’re around. God has
things for you to do. Be a part of it.
:15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who
is the head; Christ;
Here’s where Paul gives us some solid guidance on what helps us to grow up.
There are two important words here: Truth. Love.
Lesson
Growth Tip #2: Truth
We have lots of things that we will call “the Truth”. Jesus is the “Truth” (John 14:6). The gospel - that Jesus died for our sins and
that we can be forgiven and receive eternal life if we will trust in Jesus –
that too is “the Truth”.
But I think it’s much broader than that.
I think that speaking the truth is a key to growing up.
speaking the truth – aletheuo –
to speak, tell, teach, or profess the truth. This word is based on the word for
“true”, alethes, which literally
means “not hidden”.
Sometimes we have the notion that we can cover up the truth and that would
be okay, just as long as we don’t blatantly tell a lie.
I’m not sure that floats with this idea of “truth”, “not being hidden”.
Illustration
Emperor's New
Clothes
It was Hans Christian Andersen that told the story of the
Emperor and his new clothes. The great emperor was a man who liked to impress
people with his clothes. He wanted to have a new suit, the finest in the world.
A pair of swindlers told him they would make a suit out of a rare, invisible
cloth and only those lacking wisdom could not see the cloth. The emperor
commissioned the new wardrobe.
Finally the day came for the emperor to show off his new
clothes, and he began to parade himself around the streets, naked. The people
of the city didn’t have the courage to tell the emperor the truth. It was a
small child who was brave enough to remark, “The emperor’s naked!”
It’s bad enough to be lied to by swindlers, but it seems just as bad when
good people hide the truth as well
I think that sometimes we get the idea that telling the truth could get us
into trouble:
Illustration
Tonto and son
The Tonto says to his son, “Son, you push-um outhouse
off-um cliff?” The kid says, “No, me no push-um outhouse off-um cliff.” Tonto
says, “Son, me tell-um you story of Great White Father, George Washington. Many
moons ago, when Great White Father was young boy, him chop-um down cherry tree.
Him father ask-um, ‘Georgie, you chop-um down cherry tree?’ George say-um,
‘Cannot tell lie, Father. Me chop-um down cherry tree.’ Him father say,
‘Georgie bad, but Georgie honest, so you no get-um punishment.’ Now I ask-um
you again...you push-um outhouse off-um cliff?” The kid says, “Yes, Father, me
push-um outhouse off-um cliff.” Then Tonto grabs the kid and beats the tar out
of him. The kid says, “Father, Great White Father tell truth and get-um off
scott-free. I tell-um truth...why you beat-um tar out of me?” Tonto says,
“George Washington’s father not in cherry tree when George chop-um down.”
Warren Wiersbe writes,
Little children do not know how to
blend truth and love. They think that if you love someone, you must shield him
from the truth if knowing the truth will hurt him. It is a mark of maturity
when we are able to share the truth with our fellow Christians, and do it in
love[1]
(Prov 27:6 NKJV) Faithful are the wounds of a friend, But the
kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Illustration
Doctors – I know that some people do whatever they can to
avoid going to the doctor or the dentist. I think that some have the mentality
that what they don’t know can’t hurt them.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t enjoy going to the doctor. Or
the dentist. But knowing my family’s history of heart disease, I feel like I
owe it to my wife and boys as well as you all to make sure I head things off at
the pass. I may not be thrilled to know that my cholesterol is sky high, I may
not like being told that I’m overweight, I may not like knowing that my blood
pressure is too high. But if I know about it, at least I can choose whether or
not I’m going to do something about it. If I didn’t go to the doctor, who knows
how much longer I’d be around.
Truth is a key to me growing up … for all of us to grow up.
Lesson
Growth Tip #3: Love
Some people are good at speaking the truth. And they’re constantly in your
face reminding you of everything you’ve ever done or said that was wrong. They
seem to find it their calling in life to criticize and belittle everyone and
everything around them.
Paul uses that strange Greek word, agape,
for “love”. The Greeks had other words for “love”, some describing human sexual
love, others describing the love for family, another word describing the love
of emotions and friendship. but none of these words quite described the kind of
love that God has for us and that we ought to have for one another. And so we
believe that Jesus and His disciples took an unknown word and gave it a depth
of meaning to describe this love of God, and they used the word agape. Paul gave us the fullest
definition:
(1 Cor 13:1-8 NKJV) Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become
sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. {2} And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all
faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. {3}
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to
be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
You may be good at speaking the truth. You may be good at speaking your
mind, but if you don’t do it in love, it doesn’t do anyone any good.
People don’t care about how much you know until they know how much you
care.
So what is “love”? Is it having a physical attraction to someone? Is it
having a warm feeling in your heart, a “sentimental” feeling about a person? Is
it “feeling good” about a person? No. Paul then goes on to define what he means
by “love”.
{4} Love suffers long (or, “is patient”) and
is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; {5}
does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil
(or, “doesn’t keep a record of wrongs”); {6} does not rejoice
in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; {7} bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things. {8} Love never fails…
We might think that some people are good at telling it like it is, but they
do not communicate it with love.
We might look at others and think that they’re good at “loving” people, but
they don’t always tell us what they need to tell us.
Truth without love is brutality, but love without truth is hypocrisy.
Would you rather have your surgeon use a serrated bread knife or a sharp
scalpel? Which one leaves a scar?
Sometimes we might think that it doesn’t matter how we say it as long as we
say it. That’s wrong. It does matter how we say it.
The key to growing up is both – speaking the truth in love.