With Maturity Comes Responsibility
Scripture Reading: Psalm 20
1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble;
May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;
2 May He send you help from the sanctuary,
And strengthen you out of Zion;
3 May He remember all your offerings,
And accept your burnt sacrifice. Selah
4 May He grant you according to your heart’s desire,
And fulfill all your purpose.
5 We will rejoice in your salvation,
And in the name of our God we will set up our banners!
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the LORD saves His anointed;
He will answer him from His holy heaven
With the saving strength of His right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;
But we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
8 They have bowed down and fallen;
But we have risen and stand upright.
9 Save, LORD!
May the King answer us when we call.
As I was putting together scriptures for today I just about stumbled onto this psalm and
was just in awe. For those of you that were here on Friday, you know that I joked that
my mother had stolen my sermon. I realized yesterday as the Lord was leading me
through this sermon that she really hadn’t. He just took us to a similar place but to
teach to different truths. Last week we were encouraged to grow up and get the keys
to the car, spiritually. We talked about craving the pure milk of God’s word so we can
be nourished and mature in our faith, but what happens next. What do we do as we
mature in Christ?
The psalm I just read speaks of an awesome relationship with the God of Jacob, our
Savior and Creator. He will defend and protect us in our troubled times, be our help
and our strength, accept our offerings and our sacrifices, grant us our heart’s desire
and fulfill all our purposes. I’m going to stop there with that last part. Everyone always
hears that He wants to grant us the desires of our heart but what about that last part;
fulfilling all our purpose. What does that mean? What is our purpose? We talked
before about glorifying God being our purpose, but how do we do that? What glorifies
God?
Last week I talked about things that Cameron is allowed to do that Kimberly isn’t
allowed to do because of their different maturity levels. The same was true concerning
things Kristen is permitted to do that Cameron and Kimberly can’t do. This week I want
to look at the other side of the coin. When Cameron has to clean the family room or
get all the recyclables together and out to the curb while Kimberly is just running
around playing, I’m sure it doesn’t seem fair. When Kristen has her kitchen duty night
but Cameron can just sit back and play video games, I’m aware that it doesn’t seem
right. When Jeff works forty long, hard hours and comes home and doesn’t even get
to see his check because it’s paying the rent or the electric bill or some other utility and
Kristen gets to save her money to buy things she wants like a new cell phone or a car, I
know it does not seem equitable! But you know what, different levels of maturity come
with different levels of responsibility. Kristen is not expected to pay rent yet, and
Cameron is not required to have any days to do the kitchen yet, and Kimberly doesn’t
have to take out any garbage yet, but there will be a time when those responsibilities
will fall to them and that will be when their maturity level dictates it.
Now lets get back to what glorifies God. I believe it glorifies God when we trust Him
enough to do what He says. Scripture tells us that to obey is better than sacrifice (1
Samuel 15:22). Jesus tells us that all the law and the prophets can fit into just two
commands. The first is that we are to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, and
minds. And the second is to love your neighbor as yourself. It sounds simple enough,
right? The problem we have with actually doing it is that we have been so
indoctrinated into the world and the way the world sees things that sometimes we don’t
even recognize when we step outside of those boundaries.
In the book of Hebrews, the writer gives us a great list that will help us see those
boundaries. Sort of like a ‘Things to Do’ list for maturing Christians. Remember that
like a good parent, God repeats important things so that we are sure to pick up on
them. With that said, I’d like to dive in to the let us patch of scriptures from Hebrews.
Pretty interestingly this entails twelve verses and one of the verses has a double
portion. Just like Israel (aka Jacob) had twelve sons and one of them had a double
portion. God doesn’t do anything by accident so I thought it was kind of a neat thing to
notice. Anyway, let’s break them down one at a time.
Hebrews 4:1, Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you
seem to have come short of it. We need to have that healthy fear of the Lord that will keep
us honest, so to speak. That group of Israelites that died in the desert during the forty
years after Moses led them out of Egypt, did not make it into the promised land, yet
they were sons of Abraham. The writer of Hebrews, likely Paul, wants us to realize that
we too can come short if we don’t take our faith seriously.
Hebrew 4:11, Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same
example of disobedience. We have to stay diligent and obedient so the same thing will
not happen to us. To come so close but never make it in. Now, I’m not necessarily
taking about our salvation here. I’m referring to the Lord’s rest that we should have
even now. It’s the rest that comes with the peace that passes understanding.
Hebrews 4:14, Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens,
Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. No matter what comes at you or who
tries to make you doubt what you have believed, hold fast to what you know. I’m
reading the book the DaVinci Deception right now so believe me, there are those who
will try to make you doubt what you have confessed. Don’t let it happen.
Hebrews 4:16, Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. Jesus was tempted as we are tempted. He lived in flesh
as we do. He will not turn us away because we have flaws. He will be the one to fix
those flaws. Therefore we can come boldly before the throne in the same way that
Kimberly will run and jump on Jeff when he gets home from work. She doesn’t have to
say, “Oh, I did something wrong today so I shouldn’t bother him.” No she goes right in
because she knows that her daddy loves her regardless.
Hebrews 6:1, Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on
to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.
We talked about this last week. We must press forward toward perfection; continue to
mature in Christ, not remaining stagnant. Let’s get past just the laying of the
foundation and get to building the house.
Hebrews 10:22a, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. Let’s make sure
our relationship with God is a close one. Remember that Adam and Eve hid from Him
and that was a bad thing. The veil has been removed so with the righteousness we
have in Christ we can approach with a true heart.
Hebrews 10:23, Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised
is faithful. We’ve already talked about holding fast to our confession of Christ. Now we
must always hold fast to our confession of hope. Those visions that He gives you, you
need to hold on to without wavering, because you know that God is faithful. No matter
what circumstances look like.
Hebrews 10:24, And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Now
here’s where we can really challenge the worldliness of our flesh. We need to
ALWAYS consider the other person. This is especially helpful in avoiding bitterness
amongst one another and also the unbeliever we may be purposed to witness to.
Hebrews 12:1b, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us. Stay
away from the things, people, or circumstances that will cause you to sin. Period.
When you see yourself wandering into something that you know will lead to temptation,
do like Joseph did and run.
Hebrews 12:1c, let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. You know how some
people will start out the lap really fast but as they continue they get slower and slower
until they are eventually walking and everyone else is passing them. We shouldn’t be
like that. We are not to grow weary in well doing. So what if someone took advantage
of you, they did worse to Christ.
Hebrews 12:28b, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and
godly fear. Grace and mercy are almost interchangeable. We want grace and mercy
given to us but many times we are not willing to freely give grace and mercy to others.
Someone who cuts you off in traffic or talks about you behind your back. Giving grace
without requiring anything in return is a very good way for us to serve God acceptably.
Hebrews 13:13, Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. This
one may take a bit more explanation for you to understand. Scripture tells us that
cursed is anyone that hangs on a tree. That’s what Jesus did for us; He took that
curse of sin and death so we wouldn’t have to. Going outside the camp can have
many subtle meanings. We need to go outside of our worldly ways; outside of what the
world expects from us and take His reproach. We have to be aware that the world is
not supposed to like us.
Hebrews 13:15, Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the
fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. This one is such an important thing for us to do.
Do we all know what continually means? That’s right, it means always, all the time.
Can we complain and give praise to God at the same time? No. If we are continually
offering the sacrifice of praise to God, we must lay down all complaining and anger and
bitterness and anything else that will keep us from praising God with our whole heart.
I’m going to add a couple more. Let us not forget the real thirteen that I just went
through and mom went through on Friday. Let us continue to mature in the Lord and
accept the responsibility that comes with it.
Sermon by: Denise Baxley
Date: July 2, 2006