Focus: Stop Kidding! (Pt.1)

Text: 1Cor.13:11

"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

It is awesome to be a child, but awful if that child is unable to grow up. There is a time to be a child and a time to be a grown adult. It is indeed a disease to have a baby that is not growing up. Which mother would be happy to see her teenage child still wearing diapers and feeding off the bottle? Perpetual spiritual infancy is a sorry state for any believer to be in. God wants His children to grow up and become mature enough to handle family responsibilities. 

In John 9, the Lord Jesus Christ healed a blind man. The Pharisees asked his parents of who was responsible for their son's healing, but in order to avoid the possibility of being ostracized, they said, "He is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself" (Jh.9:21). They are simply saying, 'Our son is no longer a child. He can handle his personal issues as an adult that he is. Let him answer for himself.' 

As a child of God, have you come of age to tell your own story, the story of how you met Christ and what happened to you at that moment? Can you tell the story of your spiritual encounter with Jesus Christ? Can you clearly and passionately tell of your 'born again' experience - your spiritual conversion?

Peter says, "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear" (1Pet.3:15). A defender of the faith must be fully aware of what he is defending. 

Faith is provable. It is evidence-based. Faith must have a history. Authority is function of history. No one becomes a person of authority overnight. Christian doctrine begins as history - as a story of God mightily at work in the lives of His people. In Galatians, Paul talked of his trip to Jerusalem "to SEE Peter, and abode with him fifteen days" (Gal.1:18-19). In that trip he also saw John, the Lord's brother. It is interesting to know that the word 'see' is 'historeo' in the Greek. The English word 'history' stems from it. Paul took a 15-day history lessons from Peter and John. 

The Christian gospel has a history behind it. Christ has a history. The church of Jesus Christ has a history - original and authentic. What has become our doctrine as Christians was born out of our spiritual adventure with God.

From the very beginning, God has been telling a story, and whoever He calls, He makes a part of His story. And mind you, God tells no 'cock and bull' story. We don't deal on fables. Peter says, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were EYEWITNESSES of his majesty" (2Pet.1:16). Our story is not concocted or fabricated by the figment of any man's imagination. Peter is saying, 'We were there with Christ, and saw it all. Nothing happened in a corner. We are witnesses. The evidence is not in doubt. The incarnation is a reality. The story of what transpired on the Mount of transfiguration is a reality. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a reality. The ascension of Jesus Christ to heaven is a solid reality.' 

In defense of the gospel, Paul said to Festus, "For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are HIDDEN from him; for this thing was NOT DONE IN A CORNER" (Act.26:26). We are telling a story that is legitimate, authentic and authoritative.

Grow up, child of God! Stop kidding yourself! Perpetual infancy is a curse. It is time for action. It is time for growth and maturity. It is time to tell the story of Christ, that is, if you have truly experienced it in your own life. Someone needs to hear your story - story of how Christ entered your life and space, and changed everything. The writer of Hebrews says, "So come on, let's leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ. The basic foundational truths are in place: turning your back on "salvation by self-help" and turning in trust toward God; baptismal instructions; laying on of hands; resurrection of the dead; eternal judgment. God helping us, we'll stay true to all that. But there's so much more. Let's get on with it!" (Heb.6:1-3 Message). God is set for you; get set for God! There is so much more for God to do in, and with our lives.

Part two to follow

by Bishop Moses E. Peter