THE WORD OF GOD SERIES
SERMON 6: MILK, MEAT & MATURITY
I Peter 2:1-2
Hebrews 5:12-13
I Corinthians 3:1-11
We continue tonight our Metaphorical Study of the Word of God
We have dealt with it as Light, as a Hammer, as Fire
Tonight I want to deal with the Word of God as Milk and Meat and preach on this thought – MILK, MEAT & MATURITY
I want to look at both tonight – I could break it down and preach on each separately but I want to deal with a certain aspect of Milk and Meat practically and not just the truths of how it compares to the Word of God
Let’s Notice first the Comparison of Milk to the Word of God
I. Milk is good to nourish the body; and physicians tell us, where it is well digested, it makes good blood.
The Word of God is good food for the soul: “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Matthew 4:4.
II. Milk is the proper food for children and newborn babes; it nourishes them exceedingly; they grow and thrive by it, though they have nothing else to feed upon!
The Milk is enough to sustain them
The Word of God is proper food for those that are born again.
Like newborn babes, we grow and thrive by feeding spiritually upon the Word, it’s precepts, and it’s promises
Many have lived upon it, and have been satisfied by it, when they have had nothing else to feed upon.
III. Babies come from the womb with a hunger for the Milk
You don’t have to make them eat
You don’t have to wake them up and ask them if they want to eat
There would be something Bad Wrong with a Baby that never hungered for the Milk
SOMETHINGS WRONG SPIRITUALLY WITH A PERSON WHO DOES NOT DESIRE THE MILK OF GOD’S WORD
IV. A Baby has the Choice of two Breast on which to feed just as the Word of God has two precious breast
The Old Testament and the New Testament
V. Milk has a Healing, restorative Quality, It is good for someone who is lean to put meat on their bones
Thank God – The Milk of God’s Word will give you strength
VI. Milk was a precious commodity in the word of God -- So much so that it was used to explain the blessings that Canaan abounded with
Canaan was called “a land flowing with Milk and honey;” as much as to say, it is a land of rare and choice good things.
The holy Word of God is one of the choicest blessings God hath bestowed upon his church and people.
WE HAVE A PRECIOUS COMMODITY IN OUR HANDS
VII. MILK IS AT IT’S BEST WHEN IT HAS NO HUMAN MIXTURES. IT’S BETTER FOR YOU!!
The Word “Sincere” means pure and unadulterated
Just Give me the Book Preacher -- Without human mixtures and ceremonies?
The Word of God feeds best, when it is without any composition of human invention!!!
STRONG MEAT
As the Word of God is called Milk, so it is also Strong Meat.
By Strong Meat, is meant the more profound, perfect, and mysterious doctrines of the Gospel, which is to feed strong Christians.
I. Strong Meat is not meet or convenient food for babes
A Baby would choke on a Chicken Leg
There is somethings contained in the Word of God, that young Christians, who are like new-born babies, cannot receive.
The Milk of the Word, (such things as are easily taken in) is for them; Strong Meat belongs to strong Christians, men of experience.
II. If a child, after they are grown up, and arrived to years of maturity, refuse strong meat, and cannot feed upon any thing but milk, there may be cause to fear they are some way defective or diseased
So is a Church Member who has been saved for a while – There is something wrong if they can’t endure the meat
III. Strong Meat yields strong and perfect nourishment!!!
How many of you when you were a Kid – Thought you would never grow up
I remember always wanting to be older and bigger than I was!
Around age 9, I longed to be a teen ager. That magical age seemed to be forever away.
Then 13 came, and I longed to be 16 and have a driver’s license.
HAVE YOU EVER NOTICED THAT WHEN CHILDREN PLAY -- Their role is always that of a grownup, whether it’s cowboys, sports, or playing house with dolls!!!
In the same way we that are in the church should hunger to grow.
There should be a desire of a deeper awareness of Christ’s truths,
We should long for a stronger faith for living and a more meaningful maturity!!!
In our Text reading tonight we were in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians,
In our text he mentions this hunger, and shares a concern for those who fail to seek this maturity.
Chapter three begins with a reproach to believers since Paul could speak to them only as infants!!
He said “I have had to feed you with milk and not with solid food, because you couldn’t digest anything stronger. (I Cor. 3:2)
God wants us to grow!
He wants us to move beyond the elementary stage of milk into maturity and the meaning of meat.
However, as we strive for a deeper spiritual life, there are truths in growing maturity we might do well to remember.
I. THE DISTORTION OF FEELINGS
(a) First is the feeling that what we hear in our present church isn’t truly meat!!!
The Devil will put thoughts in your mind about the Preaching & Teaching that goes on in your local church.
The thought arises, "you’ll never find what you need here.
What they preach isn’t mature enough for you
You have grown beyond them and you need to look elsewhere till you find meat.
I have known Some people who spend a lifetime jumping from church to church seeking rainbows or wind mills, never recognizing they already possess God’s message where they are!!!
Paul stresses that the place where we grow is probably not the primary factor for our spiritual maturity.
Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
(I Cor. 3:5-6)
Paul is saying Who am I
Who is Apollos, that we should be the cause of a quarrel?
We’re just God’s servants
Each of us have got our own special abilities
It was God that used us to help you believe.
It isn’t too important whether we grow under Paul or Apollos.
Both play a part in God’s plan. It isn’t so much the place where we grow that matters.
What matters is allowing God to let it grow, and keeping in touch with God!
Now I understand that there are some Preachers who have more talent and greater Ability
BUT THE IMPORTANT THING – IS THE WORD OF GOD BEING PREACHED
I’ve heard many, many people say – I JUST WASN’T GETTING FED
If you have matured – You can feed yourself!!!! There came a time in Jeremiah’s life – If he wanted a snack – He went and got it
I’m not discounting the Man of God’s Preaching in any way shape or form BUT IF YOU’RE EXPECTING ME TO GIVE YOU EVERYTHING YOU NEED – YOU BETTER THINK AGAIN
(a) First is the feeling that what we hear in our present church isn’t truly meat!!!
(b) The second distortion that can attack true maturity is the feeling that MEAT MUST BE DIFFERENT THAN MILK.
We begin to believe that if a truth isn’t different, if it isn’t new, then it isn’t meat!!!
Don’t get all hung up on searching something new all the Time!!!
Don’t get all hung up in your Man of God telling you something New all
the Time
THAT’S HOW CULTS GROW IN TODAY’S SOCIETY!!!
They say, "What you learned in the past is immature.
Come and hear our teaching -- because our teaching is new, it is intellectual, and it makes sense to the modern mind.
Newness is not a requirement for spiritual meat. Often it is that simple childlike faith that God intends as the meat for our lives!!!
(c) A third distortion could be the feeling that we have grown in our lives into a level of Superior Truth.
When this begins to occur, pride can begin to fester within us, and a judgmental spirit begin to distort our closeness to God.
For example, perhaps you, like me, learned the books of the Bible in Sunday School.
Now, what’s the value in learning the names of the Bible books?
It is simply to find books more easily. That knowledge, in and of itself, is of little value if one never opens the Bible. But the knowledge can become a source of pride and a feeling of superiority. After all, "I know the books...."
IT IS ESSENTIAL TO GROW IN OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST.
However, growing for the sake of growing is not the intention of God. God expects growth to lead us to more Christ-like living. Growing merely to grow can drive a wedge between us and God.
My Dad Just finished his 3rd Earned Doctor’s Degree
I asked him – Why did you go for another one – TO KEEP ME SHARP AND TO KEEP ME HUNGRY
It’s not just another Notch on his Belt – He wants to continue to Flourish in the Word of God
Spiritual Maturity
I. THE DISTORTION OF FEELINGS
II. THE DANGER OF FAMILIARITY
FAMILIARITY CAN LIMIT MASTERING GOD’S MESSAGE.
It’s like the Story of a mother who started reading the Bible to her young son! A few weeks later they were reading from the Gospel of John.
When she read John 3:16, her son commented, "Oh, I know this. This is an old one..."
He had become familiar with the Word of God
Being familiar with a Scripture can do that to us.
We can "know" it so well that we feel we know all there is to know about it.
And we find ourselves blinded to a God-inspired meaning we are intended to find within the passage.
Not long ago, I was reading in my personal study.
On that day I was looking at the Scripture of the prodigal son.
I’ve Heard it and have preached on this text many times.
I’ve studied the passage. I’ve read commentaries on its meaning. I’ve outlined the message. Do you know what I found myself doing that morning? I said, "Oh, I know this. It’s an old one."
And I skipped through the Scripture, hurrying on to the devotional thoughts.
Familiarity closed my mind to the message God would have had for me in his word.
I consciously had to return and reread the passage to allow God to express the Scripture’s intention for me!!!
Many times the Man of God will say turn to SUCH and SUCH and he loses many in the congregation simply by the passage that he has chosen
Being Familiar with the Word of God should not fill us with Pride – It should fill us with Humility that we out of all the people in the World know the Truths from the Heavenly throne Room
I. THE DISTORTION OF FEELINGS
II. THE DANGER OF FAMILIARITY
III. THE DIVERSITY OF THE FAMILY
Christian maturity is to remember that one person’s Meat may be another person’s Milk.
Paul faced this with the Corinthian congregation.
In the second chapter of his letter, he reports jealousy and quarreling among the believers.
He points out instances of unhealthy pride regarding an individual’s experience and background.
He criticizes efforts to build a spiritual relationship with second rate labor and leftover attention.
He points out how the actions of some shame God’s temple in the body.
In other words, Paul reminds the church of areas of spiritual blindness in their individual lives.
No doubt there were individuals in the congregation ready for "meat." His audience was composed of the active leadership of the church.
However, like most any church, those leaders had areas in their spiritual lives where they were mature ... and areas where they still struggled in spiritual childhood.
On any given Sunday morning, in any church, most any sermon preached will contain milk for some and meat for others.
A particular sermon may be meat for you.
If that’s the case, listen carefully for God’s insight, encouragement and urging.
If you recognize in the sermon steps you need to take, then apply its message to your life.
On the other hand, it may be that what you hear in a sermon will be what you already know and practice.
In this area, the sermon is "milk" for you. In this area, at least, you are "beyond" milk in your walk.
When that happens; listen to what God may have to say to you.
But also spend your time praying specifically that others in attendance will
grow from what they hear.
Pray for God to develop in the congregation a growing taste for meat.
BASICALLY WHAT PAUL IS SAYING–WORRY ABOUT YOURSELF
Every message contains for every person, some milk, some meat, and opportunities for prayer and direction.
REMEMBER THIS -- GROWTH BUILDS ON FOUNDATIONS
ALREADY IN PLACE.
IF YOU NEGLECT THE IMPORTANCE OF WHAT IS ALREADY IN PLACE YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GROW
Jesus taught the need for a strong foundation for a lasting house.
GROWTH CAN ONLY GROW ON WHAT ALREADY IS THERE!
IT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A MIDDLE SCHOOL STUDENT AND A COLLEGE STUDENT
A difference between an average middle school student and a
college student is this:
The Middle school student will assume that learning is limited to what the teacher gives in the classroom.
But the more mature college student hopefully has learned that understanding is far more than what is expressed in the classroom.
It includes library study, research and growth. Wisdom, our college student has learned, is what one masters after the lecture is over.
The Same is true in the House of God
The Difference between the spiritual Babes and the Mature is what Goes on outside of this place
The teaching helps;. The preaching helps. The classroom or sanctuary helps. But maturity -- meat -- is what happens to us after class is over.
CAN YOU SEE IT??? WHY SHOULD ONE EXPECT GOD TO SUPPLY ADDITIONAL WISDOM ... UNTIL THE PERSON APPLIES THE UNDERSTANDING HE OR SHE ALREADY POSSESSES?
God has invited us to his dinner table.
There will be some meat.
There will be some milk.
Come in with a great desire to be fed at Every Service and you’ll find that
“Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
for they shall be filled.”
WORRY ABOUT YOURSELF AND WHETHER OR NOT YOU ARE EATING!!!
