Back to the Basics

(NKJV)

1 “Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you, that you may observe them in the land which you are crossing over to possess, 2 that you may fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, you and your son and your grandson, all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. 3 Therefore hear, O Israel, and be careful to observe it, that it may be well with you, and that you may multiply greatly as the Lord God of your fathers has promised you—‘a land flowing with milk and honey.’ 4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

ME:

One of the greatest joys for me is being a parent. Hearing my son say his first word, watching him take his first step and teaching him to do new things.

Any parent will tell you though that it’s not always a joyous occasion to raise a child. There are times when you have to discipline them because they simply won’t listen to you. Sometimes, that’s our fault and sometimes it’s not.

I read an article this week that mentioned 3 reasons why your child isn’t obeying you.

You are giving them too many chances, and not enough consequences

You give confusing commands

You are not considering their developmental ability

WE:

Most of us have dealt with children, grandchildren, or those who we have some type of authority over not obey or listen to us...

Now Moses really had his hands full with the Israelites. They weren’t children in the physical sense but, they were children in the spiritual sense.

They were.....

Disobedient

Complainers

Murmurers

As Spiritual infants they possessed a lot of Characteristics that physical infants do.

However, the spiritual infancy of these Hebrew Christians is not so much the result of their failure to have grown and developed rather it results from a stagment spiritual growth at a more advanced stage

The Wesleyan Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Hebrews–Revelation B. Spiritual Deadness Retards Normal Spiritual Development (5:12–14)

However, the spiritual babyhood of these Hebrew Christians is not so much the result of their failure to have grown and developed as it is a condition resulting from arrested spiritual growth at a more advanced stage

However, the spiritual babyhood of these Hebrew Christians is not so much the result of their failure to have grown and developed as it is a condition resulting from arrested spiritual growth at a more advanced stage

The Wesleyan Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Hebrews–Revelation B. Spiritual Deadness Retards Normal Spiritual Development (5:12–14)

Someone has said, “Twice a child, once a man.” Childhood may be at both ends of life. It has been well said that “no one is old (or enters his second childhood) until he stops growing.”

Someone once said, “Twice a child, once a man.” Childhood may be at both ends of life. It has been well said that “no one is old until he stops growing.”

Marks of Spiritual immaturity

These Israelites were self-centered, cry-babies, impatient, helpless, noisy, and messy.

Spiritual infants are self-centered: They expect everything to be catered to them and their agenda. They are only focused on themselves and put them on the throne of their hearts inside of allowing God to take his rightful place in their lives. Early on in our spiritual infancy we are selfish and almost uncapable of thinking about others. But we progress in our walk with God and grow in grace and we come to a crisis moment. A time where we experience entire sanctification or the fullness of the Spirit where we then have a more inclination or bent toward righteousness instead of sinfulness. A great picture of selfishness in our infancy is the story that follows...

A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Kevin, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would get the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. "If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, Let my brother have the first pancake; I can wait."

Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, "Ryan, you be Jesus!" and then he stated to eat the first pancake!

2. Spiritual infants are also noisy. They cry a lot, particularly when they don’t think their needs are being met.  Or when their toys of tradition and “this is the way we’ve always done it” is taken away.

The leadership asks the church to fund a mission project and someone complains that the girls’ bathroom needs remodeling with that money.

The story of the Israelites in the wilderness is one instance of griping and complaining one time after another. Poor Moses had to babysit hundreds of thousands of God’s infants for a full generation.

Divisiveness()

(NKJV)

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?

3. Spiritual infants are messy. They don’t clean up after themselves and don’t ask for help. We all have our messes but, the spiritually mature knows that they can’t continue to stay in their mess once they become aware of it. When the Holy Spirit convicts us, the Christian knows that can’t continue to go on sinning.

Lack of spiritual understanding(1 Corinthains 3:1-2)

(NKJV)

1 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;

4. Spiritual infants are also unstable.

You cannot tell a crying baby the bottle is warming and should be ready in a few minutes. They just want what they want, when they want it. When the spiritual immature are asked why did they get upset and leave the church, they answer that they are not having their needs met.

4. Instability()

(NKJV)

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 Spiritually mature will know that Jesus is the author of their faith and the narrator of their story. That in the end.God wins. That Jesus is the anchor of their soul!

Spiritual infants are defined by what they cannot do.

They cannot cooperate

cannot submit to others

cannot forgive

cannot give grace

cannot follow leadership

and cannot sacrifice

They cannot see far away. They cannot see the bigger picture. They have no regard for the future. Everything is now and must be about them or they cannot see the relevance.

They cannot see far away. They cannot see the bigger picture. They have no regard for the future. Everything is now and must be about them or they cannot see the relevance.

Spiritual infants are explosive and can “go off” at anything. When they feel their contributions are not valued or their voice is not being heard to their satisfaction, when the leadership they feel doesn’t appreciate them or offer them personal attention, they drop out of church emotionally even before they leave physically. Their attitude is one of always looking for some reason to quit. Like a child frustrated with their toys, spiritual immaturity just gives up.

Spiritual infants are irresponsible. They’re great at expecting a lot from others and nothing from themselves. It’s the nature of the immature to be childish.

A fill-in Pastor, told the congregation who was looking for a Pastor,

We don’t want to keep our children as toddlers forever neither do we want spiritual infants or toddlers in the church forever. They should grow. We’re not against spiritual babies; we are just saying it is time for them to grow and move through a more mature developmental stage. But to remain a baby forever is unnatural.

“The best thing that can happen to your new pastor is to discover that the leadership of his new church is made up of mature and godly adults in the faith. He’s going to get some good work done here.”

“And the worst thing that can happen to him–something that will frighten him as badly as anything imaginable–is to learn that the leadership of the church is immature. Getting anything done is going to be slow and difficult and at great risk.”

I am so glad that the church of the Nazarene makes provision to elect church board members who are saved and sanctified and whose lives bear witness to a life of holiness displayed in the fruit of the spirit.

It’s a lot like what the author of Hebrews said...

(NKJV)

(NKJV)

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.

This is why we need to read and study the word of God. It helps us mature in our faith, discern and hear the voice of God. That’s why it’s a requirement for every board member in our church. If we aren’t in Gods Word, then we won’t hear Him speak and that is the primary functions of leaders in the church. To hear Gods word so we can obey his will and we simply cannot do that if we aren’t in his word and maturing in our faith.

Marks of Spiritual immaturity

over-sensitive conscience()

(NKJV)

For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables.

Lack of spiritual understanding(1 Corinthains 3:1-2)

(NKJV)

1 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;

(NKJV)

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?

(NKJV)

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,

YOU:

Where are you at in this spiritual journey? Maybe you don’t even have a bottle? Maybe you are only drinking milk and are a babe In Christ? Maybe you are devouring the meat of God’s Word and are maturing?

Wherever you are, know this. None of us have arrived but, we are all striving toward Christ-likeness and Holiness.

WE:

We talked a lot about the marks of immaturity. But some marks of maturity are repentance and prayer. We need to press on toward the prize, press on to maturity in Christ and take our faith to a deeper level.

Spiritual maturity is not reached by the passing of the years, but by obedience to the will of God. - Oswald Chambers

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