It’s Time To Grow Up!
Scriptures: Proverbs 20:11; 22:6; 29:15; 1 Cor. 13:11; Heb. 5:12-14
Introduction
The title of my message this morning is “It’s Time to Grow Up.” This message is part one of two. This morning I want to establish a foundation and give you a few thoughts to meditate on this week in preparation for the main message on next Sunday.
Do you know that many Churches operate as “spiritual daycare” centers that care for babies (Christians) day after day versus being educational training centers that takes the newborn and trains them to be functional adults who are able to teach and train others? This is not how we are supposed to be operating as Children of God who are saved and sanctified through the blood of Christ!
How many of you know that what takes place in the natural (our natural lives) can provide examples of what takes place in the spiritual realm. There are many examples within the Bible that uses a natural example to demonstrate a spiritual principle. One of those examples pertains to our need to move from being a “baby” Christian to a full-grown mature Christian. This is the focus of the message this morning.
I have told you before that my father when he was alive would tell my brothers and me “The older you get is just the older you get!” He would say that when we would say or do something that he thought was stupid. We would be joking around and having fun (as adults) and he would just smile, shake his head and say it. We heard this from the time we were young adults until his death in 2008. When my brother and I were together last weekend for my uncle’s funeral, we were joking in the car and Nikki made the statement referring to how we were acting. I love my father dearly and his saying stays with me because I see it lived out in the lives of many people that I interact with. You can apply this saying to anyone who never learn from their life’s experiences and keep doing the same things over and over hoping for a different outcome. You can also apply this saying to what I will share with you in these messages; that spiritually, it is really time for all of us to grow up! It is time that we stop being babies and become adults. To make this message clear, I want to remind you of the differences between a baby (infant or toddler) and an adult.
How many of you have ever said to someone, “Stop acting like a baby!” or “You’re acting childish!” or “You’re just a big kid!” or “Grow up!” If you have ever said these statements to someone you were contrasting how they were acting as an adult versus what would be considered normal for how a baby or child would act. Write down this Scriptural reference and meditate on what is being said. Proverbs 20:11 says “It is by his deeds that a child distinguishes himself, if his conduct is pure and right.” A child distinguishes him/herself by how they act – by their conduct. We label children by how they act – good, bad, respectful, disrespectful, etc. The label is based on the actions of the child. We do the same for adults so when we see characteristics of a child being exhibited in an adult we call their behavior “childish.” A person will be labelled according to their actions. If you steal, you will be labelled a thief. If you lie, you will be known as a liar. The same applies to the good things we are known for. Now, as it relates to acting childish, that is a little different because it speaks to a lack of maturity and/or growth. Let’s examine some childish behaviors which are “normal” for a child, but would be abnormal for an adult.
An infant or small child expresses their feelings through crying, facial expressions and body language. Their judgement is based on perception versus logic. As they begin to understand words, they begin to communicate via sounds and gestures. Small children do not understand limits. They tend to be self-absorbed and egocentric. Although they depend on adults, they can be militantly independent at the same time and resistant to authority of others. They want to have some authority. Children are playful as they discover more and more of their surroundings. Some common things we see children doing include riding a tricycle versus a bicycle; coloring with crayons versus color pencils; drinking out of a baby bottle versus a cup; sucking their thumb or pacifier (well some adults may do this); running around in circles until they get dizzy; riding in the grocery cart at the store; screaming when their mom grabs their hand and tell them it’s time to leave the store. All of these behaviors are associated with being a child and would not be considered abnormal as they are not only normal for them, but pretty much expected. But, if an adult were doing these exact same things then their behavior would not be normal or expected.
Let me paint a picture for you. If you were at the mall and you witnessed a man crying and screaming “I don’t want to leave yet!!!” as his wife took him by the arm because it was time to go home would that seem strange to you? What would you think of me if you stopped by my house and saw me in my driveway riding a specially made adult tricycle and I am not talking about a motorized three-wheel motor cycle. What if when you pulled into my driveway you saw me running around in circles, by myself and not playing with a small child, would you pause and wonder what was wrong with me? Ok, last one, if you saw Nikki pushing me down the aisle in a grocery cart and I was screaming “faster, faster, go faster!”, would you find another Church to attend? While these behaviors are normal for a small child, these are not something you would expect to see a grown adult doing! Why? Because adults are expected to act like adults! There are acceptable ways for an adult to act and what I have just described are not those ways! In these examples the adults are exhibiting childish behavior that will cause them trouble because they are supposed to know how to act.
Solomon said in Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” While we often think of this verse as applying to training a child in the ways of God so that even if they stray, they will eventually come back to Him, this verse speaks directly to the basic training of a child to equip them for adulthood. The only way a child will stop acting like a child as they grow up is to be taught differently. Do you see where this is going? Proverbs 13:24 says, “He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently.” Proverbs 29:15 says, “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.” Before you get all offended at the Word of God let me tell you that Solomon was not recommending child abuse, even though some believe that if you spank a child then you are abusing that child. In these verses, Solomon was speaking about a child learning from their mistakes by being punished. What he says is that a parent who does not discipline their child hates them because in reality a parent who cares about their children would play an active role in their development.
I remember our daughter once complained about why we always needed to know where she was going and who she was hanging out with when she left the house. She accused us of being strict and being in “her” business, even though she was a teenager, living in our home for free, eating our food, wearing the clothes we brought, you get the picture. Anyway, one day she was apparently complaining to one of her friends at school. Her friend, according to our daughter, looked at her and told her that she wished her parents cared about her to the extent that they wanted to know what she was doing. She told our daughter that she would love to have parents who cared about her like that? You see, for my daughter’s friend, a parent demonstrated their love for their child when they cared enough to want to know where they were and with whom they were hanging out with. This gave our daughter something to think about and she did not complain as often when we “got in her business.” The same applies to a parent disciplining their child. The second verse from Proverbs 29:15 said “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.”
Nikki’s grandmother once said that parents should teach their children to behave because if something happened to the parents, someone would want to take in those children and raise them. That’s what we used to call teaching our children, “raising them.” Her reason was simple: she said no one would want to take in some bad tail children! If you think she was lying, go visit a school and see how many kids are classified as “special needs” children because they have “behavior” problems. Everyone wants that perfect child but in reality there are no perfect children because there are imperfect parents training them. Solomon said that disciplining a child will give that child wisdom while the child who constantly gets their own way will eventually bring shame to his parent. This happens because the child grows up with no restraints and believes that the world operates that way. As adults these kids often struggle in society.
All of us have heard the phrase, “spare the rod, spoil the child? This phrase is a modern-day proverb that means if a parent refuses to discipline an unruly child, that child will grow accustomed to getting his own way and therefore as an adult will not understand how to live in a world where he does not get his own way. He will become what we call a spoiled brat. Remember what Solomon said in Proverbs 20:11 that a child “by his deeds distinguishes himself?” We live out what was placed within us as children until we choose to learn better. Just as the Lord uses discipline to reveal our sins to us, a parent does the same for their children. When a child does not feel the consequences of his sin, he will not understand that sin requires punishment. The Lord provides a way to salvation and forgiveness through Jesus, but that means little to those who do not see their sin. Likewise a child who does not understand that they are doing something wrong will grow up thinking that their behaviors are totally acceptable because they have never been told anything different. Correction shows us that we are not above reproach and that we are accountable for our actions.
My point with this is that in our natural lives we must grow up. Our physical bodies will grow and age each year until our death. Likewise, short of us having some mental handicap, our minds (knowledge) will continue to grow and expand as we experience life. With this growth we are expected to learn, mature and make the appropriate decisions as adults. It is not acceptable for a normally functional adult to respond to adult situations in a childlike manner. Now here is what I want you to see – spiritually it is the same. When we accept Christ as our personal Savior, we are expected to grow. When we are “born again” we are baby Christians, but we are not to remain a baby Christian. We are expected to grow and mature through our knowledge of Christ through the study of His word. This growth will be evident in how we live each and every day.
As I close this morning, I want to leave you with the following Scriptures from the New Testament and we will pick up from here on next Sunday.
“When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11
“For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Hebrews 5:12-14
As it relates to our spiritual growth, please take some time and meditate on these verses and ask yourself are you still a baby, toddler, teenager, young adult or a full grown Christian. And remember, the answer to this question has absolutely nothing to do with how long you have been a Christian – it’s about the time you have invested learning. Remember what my dad used to tell us when we acted like we did not know something – “the older you get the older you get.” Until next week, God bless and keep you.
“The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
