I Won't Grow Up!

I Won’t Grow up! Ephesians 4: 11-16,

Are you ready for today’s lesson”, It comes for a young philosopher and I believe it tells us a lot about human nature.

I won’t grow up, I don’t want to go to school. Just to learn to be a parrot, And recite a silly rule. If growing up means It would be beneath my dignity to climb a tree, I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up Not me!

I won’t grow up, I don’t want to wear a tie. And a serious expression, In the middle of July. And if it means I must prepare To shoulder burdens with a worried air, I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up Not me,

Never gonna be a man, I won’t! Like to see somebody try And make me. Anyone who wants to try And make me turn into a man, Catch me if you can.

I won’t grow up. Not a penny will I pinch. I will never grow a mustache, Or a fraction of an inch. ’Cause growing up is awfuller Than all the awful things that ever were. I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up, No sir,

I won’t grow up! I will never even try I will do what Peter tells me And I’ll never ask him why We won’t grow up! We will never grow a day And if someone tries to make it We will simply run away I won’t grow up! No, I promise that I won’t I will stay a boy forever And be banished if I don’t!

And Never Land will always be The home of beauty and joy And neverty I’ll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up Not me!

This morning when I left home my sermon title and my sermon did not match. And that song from Peter pan kept running through my head.

In many ways, I am still a kid. I would rather have fun than Go to school. That song is fun and easy to put my self in the position of just staying the same and not changing.

I was a teenager I was always a little mature for my age. Maybe it was actually shyness. Kids can be mean if you don’t fit in. Adults will let you sit and listen and if you are funny, the laugh with you and not at you.

I remember wanting to be more grown up than I was. I wanted to drive, that starts being a big deal by 12 or so. The closer you get to 16, the more you want to do it. Teenagers can be self-centered and demanding, we are lining through that period with teenagers now. But for most they have learned some of the rules of Life.

A new born baby on the other hand is completely selfish. It has no concept of anything except its needs and wants. Eat, sleep and comfort on his or her schedule. The self-centered view of the world last for a couple of years at least and in some ways it never really goes completely away. At some point a small child learns that not every toy is theirs. That some of the stuff in the house is not theirs.

By the time they get into the high teens, concepts of sharing and helping are understood, maybe not normally offered of followed but they are in the understanding someplace. By that age, a person is usually figuring out what they will do with their life and are actually mature enough to really start doing it. That is when some suddenly don’t want to grow up.

Today’s scripture is talking about how God equips the body of Christ, the church, with people that have certain gifts. How like the human body we grow and are held together by tendons and ligaments. The Church is not the building, the church is the living intently which includes you and me and the people all around you. There is even a bigger picture that connects all the churches together, but we are not talking about that today.

Paul is describing the spiritual maturation process. He points out that God provides the people that will make up a balanced body. The parts that you need to be built up and provide sound growth. We are all at different stages of maturity. We are all growing and as a body we help each other along.

According to Paul spiritual maturity is a process that is started by God and progresses by his design. But please don’t think it is automatic. Each of us has a certain amount of control over the process. The scary part is that the control is not restricted to just our Spiritual growth it affects others and potentially everyone in he body of Christ.