Focus: Stop Kidding! (Pt.4)

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."

Think of the things you do that appear childish. The word 'childish' is only used for adults who behave contrary to their age. It is used to shame an adult who still thinks, talks and acts like an infant. It is shameful when an adult thinks, talks and acts like a toddler. Another word for an adult who is acting childishly is foolish. Solomon says, "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child…" (Prov.22:15). Foolishness is associated with childishness. There is a thin line between the two. In his childish behavior, a child easily slips into foolishness. God wants us to be sound in mind, not stupid. 

Aaron says to Moses, "Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the SIN upon us, wherein we have done FOOLISHLY, and wherein we have SINNED" (Num.12:11). In this Scripture you can see that sinning is being foolish. Whenever we sin, we are, sadly, being foolish. Samuel says to Saul, "Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the LORD thy God" (1Sam.13:13). It is foolishness to act contrary to whatever God says. Saul lost the throne and the crown for that. Repentantly, David said, "I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly" (2Sam.24:10). 

Do you ever detect foolishness in your actions? Do you examine and judge bad attitudes and behaviors in your own life?

When Asa king of Judah relied on the military might of a foreign king, God said to him, "Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars" (2Chron.16:9). By an act of foolishness we expose ourselves to ceaseless and unnecessary battles.

It is time to quit acting childish and foolish. Paul says, "That we henceforth be no more CHILDREN, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive" (Eph.4:14). Stop kidding! End it! Put away your nepiotic behavior! When there is lack of truth in the soul, we tend to follow whatever doctrines that catch and tickle our fancy. We are pulled into different directions even without knowing it. 

It is time for us to spiritually mature and become responsible. It is time to mature in our learning, leading and loving. It is time to advance in our spirituality and in yielding to the Holy Spirit.

The writer of Hebrews admonishes us with these words: "For when for the time ye OUGHT to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat… But strong meat belongeth to them that are of FULL AGE, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil" (Heb.5:12,14). Full age is the goal. We can't afford to settle for the feeding bottles nor become comfortable in our diapers. Someone needs to grow up through your spiritual assistance. There is a new believer in Christ that needs to be taught. God is looking for teachers who can pass on what they have learned. We learn to teach and teach to learn. It is the responsibility of those who have learned and keep learning to teach others, and the whole exercise is aimed at all of us reaching a full mature age in Christ.

We need more than milk; we need meat. There are higher realms in Christ. Paul says, "Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men" (1Cor.14:20). He says, 'Brothers, don't be 'paidion' in understanding.' It means, when it comes to spiritual understanding and insight, come of age. Stop being a minor or an underaged person! When it comes to the evil of keeping malice, be a 'nepios,' not an adult. It is childish to live in malice or any kind of evil. Sin kills us gradually. It fascinates before it assassinates. It blinds and binds. 

John instructs us, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen" (1Jh.5:21). Idols are very dangerous spiritual toys. The northern and southern kingdoms of Israel went into captivity at different times because of idolatry. God hates to see His children playing with spiritual toys and worshipping idols. Children love toys, and idols are spiritual toys for spiritual infants who are refusing to grow up. Loving things more than God is a sign of spiritual infancy or immaturity. A lot of us have been in Christ for many years, but there is no remarkable progress. We are still our natural selves. No visible change.

I believe strongly that we are in low spiritual state because of our soft-soap preaching. We preach not to disturb anyone or make them ashamed of their spiritual mess. Leighton Ford admits that "now you can join church and hardly feel it. Your business associates won't notice it, your wife won't notice it, your relatives won't notice it, strangers won't notice it, even God won't notice it. Our messages are so palatable and adulterated to change lives or to make even a slight difference in the way people think or live their lives. 

Paul says, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto SPIRITUAL, but as unto CARNAL, even as unto BABES in Christ… For ye are YET CARNAL: for whereas there is among you ENVYING, and STRIFE, and DIVISIONS, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?" (1Cor.3:1,3). Carnality is sign of spiritual immaturity. Paul says, 'You are still carnal…" In other words, you should have gone past this level, but you are still there. 

Carnality and spirituality are diametrically opposed to each other. A spiritual man makes no room for envy, strife, and divisiveness.

Paul says, "I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able" (1Cor.3:2). This is serious! The church is powerless today because of this spiritual condition of arrested development. This is the sorry state in which we have found ourselves, and we cannot enter into our spiritual inheritance like this. Paul says, "Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all" (Gal.4:1). We are heirs. The inheritance of God belongs to us. We are designated as "lord of all," but in reality we are not yet ready for full possession of all that belongs to us as God's children. Maturity is yet to set in. We are still operating with the mentality of a 'nepios' and a 'doulos' - we are yet to drop our diapers and slavish aprons.

O Lord, we cry out to You for change! We repent in dust and ashes. We cut off all the childish things that impede our spiritual progress and maturity. We present ourselves as living sacrifices to You. We rise up in faith, embrace fully our spiritual destiny, and yield ourselves wholly to the Spirit's guidance and leadership. From now and henceforth, no more kidding. Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter