"JUST GROW UP"

Look Up:    Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Peter 2:2-3

         Sermon preached by:   Dr. Wayne Poplin, Carmel Baptist Church    (Copyright 2007)       

INTRODUCTION:  What if the church data base gave the following information on us:
        Date of birth—physical age [which it does].
        Date of new birth—spiritual age [not in the sense of how many years you had been a Christian but how mature you were spiritually].
If it did, there would be a lot of hits on the site!  I would spend a lot of time there myself checking on you.  That would be only fair, because you would be trying to check on me.
        If our spiritual age/maturity were posted in our data base, it would be a huge issue.  Our spiritual maturity [age] would be important to us then!  Is it important to us now? 
            I hope it is a big issue for us now, because our growth is a big issue with God.  He is the One Who made us to GROW.  It is in our DNA to grow physically and spiritually.  As we continue our series on discovering our DNA, I want us to see that God has made us to Grow.  He made us to worship; it is in our DNA.  He made us to connect; it is in our DNA.  He made us to grow; it is in our DNA.   

Physical Growth
            God made us to grow and develop physically.  And we did! And you are!  [We lament—“They grow up so fast”]. Physical growth and development are big deals!
        When a couple has a baby, their pediatrician starts providing them with percentile information [how does your child compare to others the same age in weight and height].  Those stats can cause a great deal of anxiety if they get off too much. You start thinking, “What’s wrong?”  If your child does not walk and talk at a certain point you are ready to see the specialist.  But that is just the beginning.  You are looking for growth in that child not only in height and weight but emotionally, mentally, socially, language skills, etc.  Parents do not do well when they think that their child is behind or hear that their child is behind.  Telling parents that their child is not emotionally, mentally or socially ready for kindergarten is usually traumatic—or any other grade for that matter.  Growth and development are big deals.  They are big deals because we were made to Grow.   
        Kids want to grow and love to hear that they are growing.  They are always comparing themselves with bigger kids.  When we were kids we wanted to mark the doorway—to see how much we were growing.  We were concerned that we might not get on the ride because we were not as tall as the “stick.”
        Teenagers want to grow.  Everybody wants to be the prefect height.  Boys love to grow taller than their dads. 

Why do we grow?  It’s in our DNA.  God made us to grow.  He designed us to grow.  He put a pituitary gland at the base of the brain and gave us what we needed to Grow.  Growth is a big deal.   

Spiritual Growth

But we need to understand that it is in our DNA to grow spiritually as well as physically.  It is God’s stated purpose for us.  So spiritual growth is a big deal. 
        It was He Who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 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 [Eph. 4:11-13].
            Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him
Who is the Head, that is, Christ [Eph. 4:15 ].
        God’s goal is for the body to be as mature as the head—becoming as mature as Christ.  God has made us to grow and develop spiritually and will see that we eventually are made fully into the image of His Son. [Rom. 8:29 ].
            Spiritual growth is a big deal!  It is God’s determined plan.  It is our spiritual DNA.  Are we as upset when we see the lack of spiritual growth as we are when we see the lack of physical growth?   

Jesus modeled growth in both areas.
            And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men [Lk. 2:52 ]. 
Jesus knew what it was to grow physically [from a baby to a man] and what it was to grow spiritually [Heb. 5:8].  He grew physically and spiritually from birth.  We grow physically from birth and grow spiritually from new birth.  Jesus did not experience the new birth—born again—but we must to begin our spiritual growth.  Regardless of your physical age, to begin spiritual growth you have to born again [put in God’s family] and start as a spiritual baby.  There is parallelism here.  We are born as babies and grow.  We are born again as babies and grow.  The spiritual side uses the same language as the physical side—birth, infancy, growth, maturity.   

How Does Spiritual Growth Happen
        On the physical side, growth and proper development involve nutrition, exercise, rest, environment, health, facing critical life events, etc.  The same is true on the spiritual side.  Our nutrition or food is the Word of God.  The physical man still needs food to grow.  We begin on milk and then move on to solid food.  The spiritual man needs the Word.  We begin on the milk of the Word and move on to the solid food of the Word.  After 1000’s of years of history, and today with all of our technology, babies are still fed milk.  After all of these years, those born into the family of God still need the Word.
        Like new born babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation….[1 Pet. 2:2]. 
        There were once days when we didn’t want the Word.  We were alienated from God and we did not have the nature to crave this food.  Our new nature in Christ requires the diet of the Word.  Cows don’t crave meat and dogs don’t crave grass.  They crave what their nature requires.  We crave the Word—both in milk form in the form of solid food.  And if we do not make the transition as we mature, there is not only concern, there is also rebuke.
        Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ.  I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it [1 Cor. 3:1].
            Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature….[Heb. 5:13 , 14].
        There is nothing wrong with infancy and milk if you are at that point.  But God expects us to grow and develop because it is our DNA.  After the milk, solid food should be soon in coming.  The Word brings us to new life.  The Word tells us the demands of that new life.  The Word grows us in that new life to which it has brought us.  The thing in common in Ephesians 4:11 for the apostles, prophets, evangelists and pastors and teachers is the use of the Word.             
        So we need to be feeding on the Word.  We do that in personal devotions.  We need to be in Worship.  We need to connect and be in Bible Study Class.  Take advantage of the greatest offering of Christian literature and resources in the history of Christianity.  Challenge yourself with that which will allow you to grow.  
            We must take responsibility for our growth but we ought also to help one another.  We need to put things in place for growth.  But let us remember that we need to be as serious about this and as concerned over this as we are all other growth.   

Evidence of Growth
You know that a child is growing when their clothes no longer fit.   You know a child is growing in maturity when they color with crayons rather than eat them.  Or build with blocks rather than just knocking them over—or when they start taking responsibilities seriously—or when they are able to make good decisions—etc.  But how do we know if we are growing spiritually?
        Is our knowledge of scripture growing?  Are we growing in your understanding of it?  Do we have a quiet time?  What about our prayer life?  How about our relationships—marriage, parent, work?  How do we make life’s decisions?  What about our giving?  Are  we learning how to trust the Lord?  Do we know how to wait on the Lord? 

Here are some biblical check points:

1. Grounding and discernment.  Eph. 4:14.  Children can be ignorant and unstable.  But we have grown beyond that.  We do not go with every opinion but live by convictions.  We are not guided by the last thing we read or heard.  We follow truth.
2. Truth and love operate together.  They are a balanced combination.  Truth without love is harshness and love without truth is spongy.  Our love does not make us sacrifice truth.  Eph. 4:15. 
3. Unity.  Wherever you are or go you are contributing to unity rather than disunity. Eph. 4:13.
4. Feed others.  The fed are able to feed.  Hebrews 5:12.
5. Righteous living.  We are able to make wise decisions ethically and morally.  Hebrews 5:14. 

Are we growing?  God made us to grow.  It is His purpose and plan.  

        What do I want you to do?  Get into the Word.  To help you with that join me in reading one chapter of this great book Ephesians over the next 6 days.  I am going to post some thoughts on a Blog page.  You can add yours.  Let’s see what God teaches us this week. 
        Be regular in Bible Study.  Take advantage of one growth opportunity.   
What if all of us were growing up into the Head?  What would it look like around here?