Grace Church
257 Kendall Street
Burlington, WI 53105

(262) 763-3021

PASTOR'S PENS 2009

February 15th “The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.”   Muhammad Ali                 The transition to adulthood used to be one of the main goals of the young. Adulthood was seen to be a status worth achieving and was understood to be a set of responsibilities worth fulfilling. At least, that's the way it used to be. Now, an entire generation seems to be finding itself locked in the grip of eternal youth, unwilling or unable to grow up. What is problematic in the secular world is a disaster spiritually. It’s not a compliment when we allude to an adult believer as “just a big kid” or having a “princess syndrome.”                 The Apostle Paul speaks of this needed transition from childhood to adulthood in an unusual place, in what we know as, “The Love Chapter.” “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me” (1 Cor. 13:11). Maybe that’s because the core problem of every relationship issue is childishness. While God wants us to be childlike in our faith, we are not to be childish. This distinction is seen in 1 Corinthians 14:20 “Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.” Maturity demands that we put certain childish things behind us. To fail to do so hurts all of our relationships. It’s been said, “You are only young once, but you can stay immature indefinitely.” What are some childish qualities that we need to discard?                 a) Selfishness. A child’s world centers on themselves for at least the first couple of years. A baby’s world revolves around the concept, "What do I want?" There’s nothing wrong with that because that’s the way God designed babies, but there’s something very wrong if you find a Christian who ought to be mature in the faith acting that same way in the church. It’s important that as we grow up in Christ, we get away from being self-centered and that we become centered in Christ and on others. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves” (Phil. 2:3). While selfishness is expected in a child, for those of us seeking to mature in Christ, it’s a childish trait that we need to get rid of.                 b) Ignorance. Children are ignorant; they don’t know very much. You go up to a two-year-old and you say, "How much is four plus two?" or you ask him who the vice-president of the United States is? He doesn’t know. A child is ignorant, but that’s all right. He’s supposed to be, but every year he grows more and more in knowledge, just as we should be doing in Christ. Peter closed out his second letter with the words, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18).                  When a person first becomes a Christian, they’re naive. And that’s all right. There’s nothing wrong with ignorance in a young believer. The problem comes when that ignorance is still there after years of opportunity to grow. As we mature in Christ, we need to shed the childish trait of ignorance.                 c) Stubbornness. Almost every child goes through periods of stubbornness, usually at predictable times. Every parent has heard horror stories related to the “terrible twos.” As a parent, dealing with that stubbornness requires a great deal of love and patience as the child is taught to respect authority. It’s even more difficult to deal with when it’s a child of God that has the stubborn heart and is rebelling against the authority of his or her heavenly Father. The attitude that says, "I know what Your Word says, but no, I’m not going to do it." As Christians, we need to meekly take God’s Word into our hearts. Don’t ever be stubborn, defying God. We need to outgrow the childish trait of stubbornness.                 d) Valueless. Little children have no sense of values. Offer a little child $20 or a lollipop, chances are he’ll take the lollipop. He hasn’t developed a perspective on values yet. As Christians, we must mature in our sense of values. The writer of Hebrews used Esau as an example of what we shouldn’t do. “See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears” (Heb. 12:15-17). Our tendency is to blame Jacob for taking advantage of his brother, and he did. But Esau committed the greater sin. He didn’t realize the value of spiritual things. A bowl of stew was of greater value to him than the birthright with its spiritual blessings.  The writer of Hebrews is saying to these Christians, "Don’t make the same mistake in your life. Don’t trade your spiritual blessings for the things in the world which may seem at the moment to be more attractive but which are really of far less value." A lot of times, we adults make wrong choices because we fail to understand the things that are truly important in this life. We have to outgrow a childish sense of values, and come to an understanding of the things that are really important in life.                 Most marital problems, most church problems are caused by immaturity. Let’s determine to grow up in Christ!