Growing Up Time
Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 3:1-7
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; 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?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you
believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but
God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he
who waters, but God who gives the increase.
Paul begins this passage with a backhanded comment. He tells the Corinthians that
he can’t speak to them like spiritual grownups, but like babes in Christ still in the
flesh. He can’t teach them anything solid or deep scripturally because they just won’
t get. It would be like reading the newspaper to a toddler. He can tell that they’re
still immature in the faith because of their fruit: the envy, strife, and divisions among
them. Unfortunately, you don’t have to look very hard to see the same things
amongst the community of believers today. So much focus on what makes us
different and not nearly enough attention to what makes us the same as followers of
Yeshua.
These things are not what make believers babes in Messiah, but they are certainly
what signifies they have not matured in Christ. So, what do you do when you want
to mature, to grow in the LORD? Here’s a really good start, you submit.
James 4:7-8
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
You submit to God, you submit to His word, you submit to His will. That’s what we all
want, for the enemy to flee from us, right? Peacetime is better than wartime, isn’t
it? So since we want the enemy off our backs, this is the first step in the right
direction for a believer; submission. As long as you are still the boss in your own
life, there can be no maturing. Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says,
‘God is my copilot’? That’s wrong because the pilot doesn’t take direction from the
copilot. You see, the copilot is there to support and help the pilot. Far too many of
Yeshua’s disciples are comfortable having this type of relationship with God. They
want Him there to help them and to support them but they want to remain in
charge. I can tell you from experience that as long as you remain the pilot, you will
be off course. Submission is the key.
I Peter 5:5-7
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all
of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“ God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may
exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
We have to learn submission. We have to practice it. If you want to learn how to
play a musical instrument or how to play a particular sport well, there are exercises,
things you have to do over and over and over to hone your skills. Practice, practice
and more practice. Well, submission is something we need to practice as well,
submitting to one another, humility. And why? Because God resist the proud but
gives grace to the humble. We don’t want God to resist us in our pride. If we learn
to humble ourselves under His mighty hand it will be Him that exalts us. And I know
that my God can lift me up much higher than I can lift myself.
The next step after submission is resistance. We need to resist the enemy. It is a
certainty that the enemy is going to come against us. How we respond is critical.
I Peter 5:8-9
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the
faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your
brotherhood in the world.
Our adversary is vigilant, and he’s out there just watching and waiting to see whom
he can devour. If you’ve ever watch a nature show where some predator like a lion
or tiger is hunting animals in a pack, you see that they watch to see who is going to
fall behind, who gets separated from the pack. Then they pounce on them. It’s
usually the young ones who can’t keep up who get picked off. We do not want to
be the young ones in faith that get picked off time and again. So we must learn to
resist the adversary as both Peter and James exhort us. Resisting every temptation
he can throw our way.
Genesis 39:11-12
11 But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do
his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12 that she caught
him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her
hand, and fled and ran outside.
Joseph resisted. He took himself completely out of the situation. Many times we will
have to physically remove ourselves from the place where sin is. As ridiculous as
he must have looked running naked out of that house, he did what he had to do
and he was able to keep himself from evil.
I remember back when my daughter Kristen was in second or third grade. We lived
a short two blocks from the school and she would walk home. One day she came
running into the house breathing hard from running. I dropped what I was doing to
find out what was wrong. She told me someone in a car had driven up to her, rolled
down the window and said, “Hey, little girl!” She didn’t even look at them, she just
started running full speed home because I had taught her that grownups don’t ask
little kids for directions or to help find puppies or anything like that. She had been
taught that when in doubt she should run, so that’s what she did. Just as I was
comforting her, someone drove up into the driveway. I believe it was my
stepbrother and his wife. As it turned out they had been playing around. I
commended my daughter for how she had handled herself. I believe she had
reacted exactly as she should have.
When we resist evil there are times when we may have to endure the mocking of
those we call our friends. They may think we’re being silly but we have to do what
we have to do to resist evil. No matter what the cost. Joseph had to go to prison.
We may have to lose friends or lose the respect of our peers, but whatever the
cost, we must resist evil.
According to James, if we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us.
Then what? Well, James says that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.
We want that too, right? I remember when my husband would come home from
work, lie down on the bed to rest and my youngest daughter would run full speed
into the room and jump directly onto him, nose to nose. As tired as he was from
working hard all day, he would take the time to hug and kiss her. She had drawn
near to him, so he would draw near to her. In the same way, our heavenly Father
wants to have to type of relationship with us.
2 Chronicles 7:14 - if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves,
and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Though this scripture is from the Hebrew scriptures and the wording is a bit
different, it is telling us the same thing that James is telling us. We need to humble
ourselves (submit), turn from our wicked ways (resist the devil), and seek His face
(draw near to God). Unfortunately, much too many Christians are being content to
exist as mere babes without maturing, and wondering why they don’t see the
blessings and don’t feel the power the should have. The sad part is that they don’t
even know they’re still babes because they feel they are doing certain things that
are spiritual. You can do many spiritual things and still be a babe.
My youngest daughter (7 yrs old) can submit to authority, she can resist evil, and
she can seek her father’s face but she can’t go down the street on her bike by
herself to play with her friend. My son (11 yrs old) can go down the block by himself
to his friend’s house but he can’t drive a car to the mall like his older sister. As their
parents, we allow them to do certain things based on their maturity level. When my
son gets to be 16 he will be allowed to drive by himself only if his maturity level
shows me that he can be trusted. It has nothing to do with the number of his age.
The same will be true with Kimberly. She will only be allowed to go down the street
on her own when her maturity level dictates it, not because of the amount of time
she’s been alive on the planet.
God is our parent and in a similar fashion will only bless us with certain things as we
are able to handle the responsibility. If I were to give Cameron a $10 bill and the
keys to my car to go to the store to get milk, I would be considered an irresponsible
parent. We have to understand that the power of God in our lives can only be
limited by our level of spiritual maturity. So, you say, “Okay, I see that envy, strife,
and division are
still in my life so I know that I am still immature in Christ. So now what? What do I
need to mature?”
1 Peter 2:1-3
1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil
speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you
may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Peter makes it very clear what we must do. We have to put aside those evil
emotions and reactions and desire the pure milk of the word of God. If you have
tasted and know that the Lord is gracious you will desire His word that will sustain
you and cause you to grow.
You can come to every Bible study, to our Sabbath services, and our Lord’s Day
services and stay as a babe only. It will not be until you begin to pick up the Bible
on your own with no prompting from anyone that you will mature in Him. If you are
satisfied in God’s spiritual stroller being taken places you don’t want to go, this is of
no concern to you. If you’re content being in the Holy Spirit playpen with no power
over the circumstances in your life and no authority over the enemy, then this is
unimportant. I could talk until I’m blue in the face telling you to read your Bibles on
your own but the bottom line is that if you ever want to get out of the playpen and
get the keys to the car, you have to mature in Christ. And the only way you’re
going to do that is by reading His word.
I want to end today with a passage from Psalm 119 that I believe speaks to what we
have been talking about today. This is the long psalm in the Bible so not a lost of
people take the time to read it but it happens to be one of my favorites.
Psalm 119:9-16
9 How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O LORD!
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: September 21, 2008
Scripture Reading: I Corinthians 3:1-7
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; 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?
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you
believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but
God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he
who waters, but God who gives the increase.
Paul begins this passage with a backhanded comment. He tells the Corinthians that
he can’t speak to them like spiritual grownups, but like babes in Christ still in the
flesh. He can’t teach them anything solid or deep scripturally because they just won’
t get. It would be like reading the newspaper to a toddler. He can tell that they’re
still immature in the faith because of their fruit: the envy, strife, and divisions among
them. Unfortunately, you don’t have to look very hard to see the same things
amongst the community of believers today. So much focus on what makes us
different and not nearly enough attention to what makes us the same as followers of
Yeshua.
These things are not what make believers babes in Messiah, but they are certainly
what signifies they have not matured in Christ. So, what do you do when you want
to mature, to grow in the LORD? Here’s a really good start, you submit.
James 4:7-8
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you
sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
You submit to God, you submit to His word, you submit to His will. That’s what we all
want, for the enemy to flee from us, right? Peacetime is better than wartime, isn’t
it? So since we want the enemy off our backs, this is the first step in the right
direction for a believer; submission. As long as you are still the boss in your own
life, there can be no maturing. Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says,
‘God is my copilot’? That’s wrong because the pilot doesn’t take direction from the
copilot. You see, the copilot is there to support and help the pilot. Far too many of
Yeshua’s disciples are comfortable having this type of relationship with God. They
want Him there to help them and to support them but they want to remain in
charge. I can tell you from experience that as long as you remain the pilot, you will
be off course. Submission is the key.
I Peter 5:5-7
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all
of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“ God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may
exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
We have to learn submission. We have to practice it. If you want to learn how to
play a musical instrument or how to play a particular sport well, there are exercises,
things you have to do over and over and over to hone your skills. Practice, practice
and more practice. Well, submission is something we need to practice as well,
submitting to one another, humility. And why? Because God resist the proud but
gives grace to the humble. We don’t want God to resist us in our pride. If we learn
to humble ourselves under His mighty hand it will be Him that exalts us. And I know
that my God can lift me up much higher than I can lift myself.
The next step after submission is resistance. We need to resist the enemy. It is a
certainty that the enemy is going to come against us. How we respond is critical.
I Peter 5:8-9
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like
a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the
faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your
brotherhood in the world.
Our adversary is vigilant, and he’s out there just watching and waiting to see whom
he can devour. If you’ve ever watch a nature show where some predator like a lion
or tiger is hunting animals in a pack, you see that they watch to see who is going to
fall behind, who gets separated from the pack. Then they pounce on them. It’s
usually the young ones who can’t keep up who get picked off. We do not want to
be the young ones in faith that get picked off time and again. So we must learn to
resist the adversary as both Peter and James exhort us. Resisting every temptation
he can throw our way.
Genesis 39:11-12
11 But it happened about this time, when Joseph went into the house to do
his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, 12 that she caught
him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her
hand, and fled and ran outside.
Joseph resisted. He took himself completely out of the situation. Many times we will
have to physically remove ourselves from the place where sin is. As ridiculous as
he must have looked running naked out of that house, he did what he had to do
and he was able to keep himself from evil.
I remember back when my daughter Kristen was in second or third grade. We lived
a short two blocks from the school and she would walk home. One day she came
running into the house breathing hard from running. I dropped what I was doing to
find out what was wrong. She told me someone in a car had driven up to her, rolled
down the window and said, “Hey, little girl!” She didn’t even look at them, she just
started running full speed home because I had taught her that grownups don’t ask
little kids for directions or to help find puppies or anything like that. She had been
taught that when in doubt she should run, so that’s what she did. Just as I was
comforting her, someone drove up into the driveway. I believe it was my
stepbrother and his wife. As it turned out they had been playing around. I
commended my daughter for how she had handled herself. I believe she had
reacted exactly as she should have.
When we resist evil there are times when we may have to endure the mocking of
those we call our friends. They may think we’re being silly but we have to do what
we have to do to resist evil. No matter what the cost. Joseph had to go to prison.
We may have to lose friends or lose the respect of our peers, but whatever the
cost, we must resist evil.
According to James, if we submit to God and resist the devil, he will flee from us.
Then what? Well, James says that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.
We want that too, right? I remember when my husband would come home from
work, lie down on the bed to rest and my youngest daughter would run full speed
into the room and jump directly onto him, nose to nose. As tired as he was from
working hard all day, he would take the time to hug and kiss her. She had drawn
near to him, so he would draw near to her. In the same way, our heavenly Father
wants to have to type of relationship with us.
2 Chronicles 7:14 - if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves,
and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from
heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Though this scripture is from the Hebrew scriptures and the wording is a bit
different, it is telling us the same thing that James is telling us. We need to humble
ourselves (submit), turn from our wicked ways (resist the devil), and seek His face
(draw near to God). Unfortunately, much too many Christians are being content to
exist as mere babes without maturing, and wondering why they don’t see the
blessings and don’t feel the power the should have. The sad part is that they don’t
even know they’re still babes because they feel they are doing certain things that
are spiritual. You can do many spiritual things and still be a babe.
My youngest daughter (7 yrs old) can submit to authority, she can resist evil, and
she can seek her father’s face but she can’t go down the street on her bike by
herself to play with her friend. My son (11 yrs old) can go down the block by himself
to his friend’s house but he can’t drive a car to the mall like his older sister. As their
parents, we allow them to do certain things based on their maturity level. When my
son gets to be 16 he will be allowed to drive by himself only if his maturity level
shows me that he can be trusted. It has nothing to do with the number of his age.
The same will be true with Kimberly. She will only be allowed to go down the street
on her own when her maturity level dictates it, not because of the amount of time
she’s been alive on the planet.
God is our parent and in a similar fashion will only bless us with certain things as we
are able to handle the responsibility. If I were to give Cameron a $10 bill and the
keys to my car to go to the store to get milk, I would be considered an irresponsible
parent. We have to understand that the power of God in our lives can only be
limited by our level of spiritual maturity. So, you say, “Okay, I see that envy, strife,
and division are
still in my life so I know that I am still immature in Christ. So now what? What do I
need to mature?”
1 Peter 2:1-3
1 Therefore, laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil
speaking, 2 as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you
may grow thereby, 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
Peter makes it very clear what we must do. We have to put aside those evil
emotions and reactions and desire the pure milk of the word of God. If you have
tasted and know that the Lord is gracious you will desire His word that will sustain
you and cause you to grow.
You can come to every Bible study, to our Sabbath services, and our Lord’s Day
services and stay as a babe only. It will not be until you begin to pick up the Bible
on your own with no prompting from anyone that you will mature in Him. If you are
satisfied in God’s spiritual stroller being taken places you don’t want to go, this is of
no concern to you. If you’re content being in the Holy Spirit playpen with no power
over the circumstances in your life and no authority over the enemy, then this is
unimportant. I could talk until I’m blue in the face telling you to read your Bibles on
your own but the bottom line is that if you ever want to get out of the playpen and
get the keys to the car, you have to mature in Christ. And the only way you’re
going to do that is by reading His word.
I want to end today with a passage from Psalm 119 that I believe speaks to what we
have been talking about today. This is the long psalm in the Bible so not a lost of
people take the time to read it but it happens to be one of my favorites.
Psalm 119:9-16
9 How can a young man cleanse his way?
By taking heed according to Your word.
10 With my whole heart I have sought You;
Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments!
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.
12 Blessed are You, O LORD!
Teach me Your statutes.
13 With my lips I have declared
All the judgments of Your mouth.
14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies,
As much as in all riches.
15 I will meditate on Your precepts,
And contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes;
I will not forget Your word.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: September 21, 2008