followers of Jesus

Are We Mature?

PastorPartridge Sermon , , ,

“Are We Mature?”
August 02, 2015
By John Partridge

Scripture: 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13      Ephesians 4:1-16      John 6:24-35

How many of you wish that you could join Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and live in a place where you never have to grow up? How many of you sing along whenever you hear the Toys-R-Us jingle singing “I don’t want to grow up…”? Just this week I reminded someone in the office that although life requires that we grow old, there is no law that requires us to grow up. Many of us have discovered that growing up is a trap. When we were kids we desperately wanted to grow up so that we could be “free” of all the rules and restrictions of our parents, and everyday attendance at school. But we often discover that adulthood and being grown up is nothing at all like we imagined when we were kids.

But even considering all of that, we recognize that adults behave in certain ways. We go to work on time, we pay the bills on time, we get along with our co-workers (most of the time), we follow the rules of the road when we drive, the rules at work, and a whole lot more rules than we ever thought adults had to follow. Even when we don’t want to act our age, and even though we don’t always like (or follow) all of the rules, we are even more annoyed by other people who refuse to follow them. We have all met people who, although they were forty, or sixty, or older, they acted as if they never grew up. They were immature and behaved as if they were children.

When Patti and I were first married, we knew of a couple who could barely pay the rent and who worried about how to keep food on the table, well, let me be more specific, the wife worried about how to keep food on the table. The distinction is important, because even though they had a hard time finding the money for necessities, the husband would occasionally come home with expensive toys, like a new $400 shotgun. Don’t get me wrong, it’s fun to buy grown-up toys, but when your family is worried about having enough food to eat, mature human beings set aside their desire for toys. Many of us can recall times when we cancelled family vacations, or postponed major purchases, or set aside our need for toys for ourselves, so that we could pay for a child’s braces, or school fees, or a class trip, or a host of other things that were more important to our family.

We don’t always have to act like a grown-up, but a mark of our maturity is that we are willing to act our age when we need to, and set aside our wants for the needs of others who are important to us.

In today’s scriptures we are going to hear three stories that all hinge on the maturity of the people in them. But as we consider them, we realize that the maturity of those involved is not just physical and emotional maturity, but spiritual maturity as well.

We begin once again with the story of King David in 2 Samuel 11:26 – 12:13 as he murders the honorable and noble, Uriah the Hittite and takes Uriah’s wife Bathsheba for himself.

26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him. 27 After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing David had done displeased the LORD.

12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

\5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more. 9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’

11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.”

Certainly a part of David had known all along that what he was doing was wrong. It was that part of him that knew he messed up that caused him to try to cover it all up by making Uriah “disappear.” But once Nathan calls him out, David knows that the jig is up, that he has been caught in his sin and defiance of God, and he repents. Even so, even having repented and been forgiven, David still does not escape the consequences of his actions. God declares that David’s own family will turn on him, and that God will one day do to David almost exactly what he had done to Uriah. David’s own son would turn on him, take away his throne, his palace, his kingdom, and all of his wives and that son would sleep with all of those wives in broad daylight so that everyone would know that he had done it.

David got into trouble because he acted immaturely both as an adult and as a spiritual being. David did what he did because he was greedy and selfish, and because he chose to put his desires ahead of the needs of others.

In John 6:24-35, we hear about what happened after the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus fed five to fifteen thousand people and then, instead of being grateful, they follow him so that he can feed them again.

24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

Jesus tells the people that he knows they followed him, not because they were impressed by the miracle that he performed, but because they wanted to be fed. He cautions them to work for food that endures to eternal life and not just to work for food that spoils.

Like a baby that cries when it is hungry, the people were being immature; in particular, they were being spiritually immature. They wanted food more than they wanted to do the will of God. They loved Jesus for what he could do for them on that particular day, rather than for who he was and for the gift of eternal life that he had to offer.

Finally, Paul again urges the followers of Jesus Christ, the church, to live lives of spiritual maturity. (Ephesians 4:1-16)

4:1 As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. 2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. 3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
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11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Paul says that we should live a life that is worthy of the calling of God. God did not call us to be petty, judgmental, mean-spirited, short-tempered, narrow-minded, people. God called us to be humble, gentle patient, peaceful, and loving people who get along with others because of the love that we have for one another and the love that we have for God. When we act in ways that do not look much like Jesus, then our behavior is spiritually immature. Mature believers have grown in faith and in knowledge so that we are filled with the Spirit of God and become more and more like Jesus. It is our immaturity that allows us to be deceived by false preachers and bad theology. It is our immaturity that allows believers to be deceived by people who try to lead us astray. But Paul says the solution to all of these is to become mature, to grow in faith and knowledge so that together we can, as the body of Christ, do the work that God has called us to do.

We have all met people who, although they were forty, or sixty, or older, they acted as if they never grew up. They were immature and behaved as if they were children.

And, in the same way, we sometimes meet fellow believers who, although they are physically grown up, are still babies, immature, in their faith. Just because we are fifty, or sixty, or seventy, doesn’t guarantee that we act like adults, nor do we automatically become mature Christians because of our age. We grow as we speak, as we act, and as we hear the truth. We grow spiritually in the same way that children grow physically; we need to eat spiritual food. We need to spend time reading and studying scripture, and doing other things where we hear and act out, and exercise our faith so that we can grow in faith and in knowledge.

Our goal is not to fill the pews every Sunday.

Our goal is not to simply a body for Christ, but to become the mature body of Christ.

As such, it is often worth asking ourselves, “Am I mature?”

And to find out, the next question we need to ask is, “Do I look and act, like Jesus?”

Learning to See (Part 1 – Others)

PastorPartridge Sermon , ,

Scripture:

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13           Mark 4:26-34           2 Corinthians 5:6-17

Anyone who has ever broken their arm, leg, or had surgery on their shoulder or hip can tell you that after surgery when you are finally done with casts and slings, crutches, and walkers, then the real work starts. After the your body has healed, then you begin the longer and harder task of rehabilitation, rebuilding muscle strength, and relearning how to use something you thought you had, but realized that things don’t work the way that they used to. I have shared with you before that after receiving my cochlear implant, I am still relearning how to hear and every time they update the program, everything changes again.

But for the most part, our ability to see is different.

When we get glasses, they make what we see more focused. When we have cataracts removed, it makes our vision clearer. If we wear something like night vision goggles, it is quite possible that we might need to relearn to recognize some objects that look differently than they do with normal vision. But in most cases what we see is, in fact, what is there. There is never a time when we have to relearn to see…

…Except when we become followers of Jesus Christ.

As followers of Jesus we are called to see things, not as they appear to be, but to see them the way that God sees them.

We begin this morning in the book of 1 Samuel where God calls his prophet to anoint a new king in place of Saul. (1 Samuel 15:34-16:13)

34 Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. 35 Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be on your way; I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

2 But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”

The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.”

4 Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you come in peace?”

5 Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought, “Surely the LORD’s anointed stands here before the LORD.”

7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”

8 Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but Samuel said, “Nor has the LORD chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The LORD has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

12 So he sent for him and had him brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome features.

Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”

13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the LORD came powerfully upon David. Samuel then went to Ramah.

Jesse had good looking sons. They were tall and handsome and well constructed. And as they passed in front of Samuel, several times, if not every time, Samuel thought, “Surely this one looks like a king,” but God doesn’t see the world the same way that human beings see it. Each time that Samuel thought he saw a king, God told him that he was seeing it wrong. This happened so many times that Jesse ran out of sons and Samuel had to ask if he had any more. And the only son that was left was the kid brother they had left out in the fields to watch the sheep.

No one knew that Samuel had come to anoint a new king, but no one, not even his own father, thought that David was important enough to invite to dinner with God’s prophet. But the son that had been overlooked by his family was the very one that God had in mind. God’s vision is different than ours. God sees things differently than we do. And that means that things are not always what they appear to be. What we think we see is not always what is. What our eyes tell us about reality, is not always real.

Paul elaborates on this idea in 2 Corinthians 5:6-17…

6 Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. 7 For we live by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 9 So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

11 Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Paul says, that we live by faith, and not my sight, which is a good way of saying that the things that we see, aren’t always reality. What is seen with our eyes is not always all that there is to see. For that reason, Paul encourages us to focus on a world that we cannot see, so that we will be rewarded by Jesus on the Day of Judgment.

The followers of Christ, according to Paul, will be questioned by people who take pride in what they can see and we will sometimes be accused (just as Jesus was) of being “out of our mind,” because we choose to ‘see’ with our hearts rather than with our eyes. For that reason, we are called to take pride in what we are doing, take pride in the good that the followers of Jesus are doing, so that we can answer those who are only proud of the things that they can see. We must stop seeing those around us as the world sees them, but instead see others the way that God sees them. Whenever we are in Christ, we are changed and become something new, and Paul encourages us to see the people around us the same way.

God’s way.

And as we learn to see the way that God sees, we realize that the world we are learning to see is the future kingdom of God. In Mark 4:26-34, Jesus described that world this way…

26 He also said, “This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how. 28 All by itself the soil produces grain—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head. 29 As soon as the grain is ripe, he puts the sickle to it, because the harvest has come.”

30 Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? 31 It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. 32 Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”

33 With many similar parables Jesus spoke the word to them, as much as they could understand. 34 He did not say anything to them without using a parable. But when he was alone with his own disciples, he explained everything.

Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a man who is planting seed. While he is the one who put his hand in the sack and scattered the seed, once it left his hand, he is no longer responsible for anything that happens. Instead, “all by itself the soil produces grain.” Once the seed is planted, everything that happens depends on God. Even tiny seeds can grow to produce great sources of shelter and food, but our only responsibility is to plant and to harvest. When we see the world the way that God sees it, we remember that people are not always what they seem. Sometimes the most productive plants grow in unexpected places. Dwight Moody, the great evangelist of the 19th century was brought to Christ when he was a shoe salesman. Billy Graham was a country farmer who came to faith in Jesus at a revival meeting he attended at the request of a friend, and only accepted because his friend offered to let Billy drive his pickup truck.

When we see the world the way that God sees, we remember that just because people look like they are poor, or ugly, or dirty, or drunk, or foreign, or different than us, doesn’t mean that God sees them that way. We remember that God loved all of us long before we were anything close to loveable. God desires for every human being to hear the good news of Jesus Christ and have the opportunity to follow him. It isn’t up to us to choose who hears. Our only calling is to scatter the seed and let God be responsible for growing it.

It isn’t easy to see the way that God sees.

It is hard to doubt our own senses.

But when we choose to follow Jesus…

…we must learn to see all over again.