It’s Time To Grow Up Part 3
Scriptures: 2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Peter 3:15
I want to tell you a story. A man was at home one day and realized that he was hungry. He got in his car and went to a restaurant for dinner. Once he had eaten his food he asked his waiter to box up his leftovers so that he could take them home for later. When he got home he placed the food on his counter and got busy doing something else and forgot all about it. A few days later when he wanted a snack he remembered the food he had brought home and went to get it. When he opened the box, the food had spoiled. Have you ever done that? Spiritually we do this often. You see, we come to Church, get fed the word (even in milk form), eat as much as we can and then leave with leftovers to share. However, when we get home, we lay the Word down and forget about it until something makes us think about it. Then when we remember what we feasted on at Church on Sunday, we try to go back to find those leftovers only to find that it is no longer eatable. Why, because you did not continue to feed upon it while it was still good. You forgot about it and the Word spoiled in your hearts as you did not use it. I am not saying the Word was bad, but because you could not remember it after Sunday it became “unusable” for you.
Remember the parable Jesus told to His disciples about the sower of the seeds. Let me read a few verses for you. “…….Behold, the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” (Matthew 13:3-8) The disciples did not fully understand the parable so Jesus explained it to them. He said, “Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.” (Matthew 13:18-23) This, my friends, is an example an example of a baby Christian versus a mature one. The Word of God cannot be snatched from the hearts of a mature Christian because they are always studying and seeking His face. However, baby Christians do not pay attention to what they are learning so the Word is constantly being stolen from them. They also stress about things of this life and therefore cannot focus on the Word so what they initially receive gladly is pushed aside when they are pressed on what they believe. Finally, a baby Christians allows life (jobs, making money, careers, family issues, etc.) to choke the Word from them so they do not grow. A mature Christian receives the Word, allows it to grow within them and they, through that Word within them, bear fruit – live a life that draws others to Christ. Do you see this difference?
That was an introduction to part three of my series, “It’s Time to Grow Up.” I am sure that some of you were possibly offended or at best, challenged, as I described the baby Christian as one who does not study and are not ready to hear the deeper things of the gospel. I told you in that message that many on Sunday hear the Word, (get their bottles filled) and then go and let the milk spoil because they did nothing with it. How many of you got your bottles filled last Sunday and then let it sit all week getting spoiled because you chose not to do anything with it? You did not share it with anyone and just let it sit within your hearts. What we do with the Word of God determines our growth. If a baby does not eat they lose weight and eventually die. If you are not spiritually eating of the Word of God yourself, no matter how often you come to Church, you are spiritually dying. You must see this and make the decision to change.
In part two on last Sunday I told you that one of the very basic things that a mature Christian should be able to do is teach someone about their faith. I told you that I was not saying that you had to be called to preach or to become a Bible study teacher, but that you must know enough of the Word of God to be able to explain to someone else why you are a Christian and why you live the way that you do. This is an individual responsibility that we all carry. It was my intention to move to the second description of a baby Christian this morning covering the Scriptures I gave you last week, but the Spirit has led me to go just a little deeper into this area of our being able to teach others about our faith. I want to show you scripturally how I reached this conclusion and why it’s important that you are able to share your faith. I know that we all have different study methods; you cannot study like me, nor I like you, but we can each study and grow to our own capabilities. This is not about you becoming me, but you being able to fulfill what God wants you to do. I will tell you again, you have the ability to reach someone who will never enter these doors and that is why you are here, to be prepared to do so through the fellowship with other believers.
During Bible study this past Thursday I shared with the class that if we believe that we cannot read the Bible, especially the New Testament, and gain from it what we need in order to walk more closely with Christ then we nullify what Jesus said. What I told the class on Thursday evening was that as we read and study the Holy Spirit of God will enlighten us. Jesus told His disciples in John 16:13-15, “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.” The Holy Spirit will guide us to all truth as we continue to grow in our relationship with Christ. Jesus also told His disciples in John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” The Holy Spirit is our Helper and He will ensure that if we are truly seeking God and His wisdom, we will find it. We will not get it all in our individual study, but we will get enough to know the questions to ask to continue seeking. Sunday Church services and Bible study should additional resources for what you are doing outside of Church!
So how does growth happen? We grow by spending time with God in prayer and in study. There are no shortcuts. As we read and study the Word of God it’s the Holy Spirit who will reveal to us what we need. It’s not about how much you know right now, it’s about seeking more. The Holy Spirit will also bring things to your remembrance when you need them as you study. A quick example is when you are listening to a sermon and or in Bible study and all of a sudden another Scriptural reference comes to your mind that supports what you are hearing or studying. That’s the Spirit fulfilling His mission in you. This also happens when we are talking to someone and Scriptures begin to come to our remembrance pertaining to their situation that we have not thought about for years. Again, the Holy Spirit is talking to you – bringing to your remembrance what you had filed away in your filing cabinet. In order for the Spirit of God to bring something to your remembrance from your filing cabinet, YOU must have filed something away in it!!! The Spirit of God is so good that when we study and have questions, He will lead us to the answer even if that means putting someone in our path to give it to us if we cannot fully hear and understand Him speaking to us. Everyone who seeks God sincerely will find Him – we just have to be willing to search. Also, and this is crucial, if you surround yourself with others who are studying you will have additional resources to help you gain a better understanding of what you are studying. None of us know it all but we have to be willing to search and study to continue expanding on what we know. We can’t just wait on someone else to feed us. For the adults with teenagers and/or young adult living in your homes, at what age do you start telling them to go into the kitchen and fix themselves something to eat if they are hungry? At some point you begin to push part of the ownership of their eating back on them. You stop allowing them to just sit around and wait for you to fix the food and serve them. This is the relationship that God desires with us – we start taking part ownership of our relationship with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Why is this so important? Our personal testimony can draw more people to Christ who may never actually step foot in any Church.
I want you to understand this and I may be going to go out on a limb with this statement. The Church is where you come to be taught and to worship with other believers so that your spiritual gas tank can be filled. The teaching and worship is what fills your tank so that you have the fuel you need for the week as you reach out to others. What you learn here is to equip you to answer questions out there! People generally come to a Church because someone invited them, they “heard” about the Church, or they know someone who attends the Church who are actually living their faith. For this reason we must always be ready with an answer for them when they have questions for us “outside these wall” and you cannot point to me and tell them to ask me. Turn to 1 Peter 3:15 and I will ask that you really spend some time meditating on this Scripture. It says, “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” Peter told his readers to give Christ a special status in their hearts and in doing so, to always be ready to defend their beliefs and give an account of the hope that dwells within them. He told them to qualify themselves to be able and ready to respond to those who ask them about their faith.
Many people believe that they cannot understand the Bible unless they have been trained. They also believe that they are not qualified to teach the Bible to others unless they have attended a Bible college or seminary. Furthermore there are so many more people who believe that they can only learn from someone who has a degree in some type of ministry because they have studied and have been certified as “knowledgeable.” When Peter wrote there were no seminaries or Bible schools to attend because the New Testament church and Christian faith in general was in its infancy. Christianity was so vastly different from the pagan religions of the Roman Empire that people were skeptical of this “new religion” and did not understand its message. Apparently there were many people who were actually afraid of Christians. The pagans (Gentiles in some respect) had many questions about what Christians really believed and there were many false rumors about the followers of Christ being spread. In the midst of all of this, the apostle Peter told the early believers “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” When Peter wrote this he was writing to the average person who was not a trained scholar. In today’s term he was writing this to the average member of the Church versus the ministry staff. Many of the people this letter was written to were new believers and yet Peter was encouraging them to be ready to make a defense to everyone who asked them to explain Christianity and why they chose to become a Christian. He was encouraging them to use whatever influence they had to bring people to Christ. Please understand that ministry is a one on one function, the heart of one person connects to the heart of another and Christ is shared.
Peter told his readers to sanctify Christ as Lord in their hearts and “always being ready.” This term in the Greek means to be ready or to be prepared. It is an attitude that is always set to go, eager, prompt and raring to get started. It is a mindset that does not change its focus – it’s always ready to respond to the question when asked. Consider the firefighter. When they are on duty, regardless of what they are doing, their minds are ready. Their minds and bodies are ready. When the bell sounds they immediately take action without thinking. Why? Because they have trained tirelessly over and over so that when they hear the bell sound they do not have to think about what they are supposed to do. This is how we should be when it comes to explaining (teaching others about) our faith in Christ. This is why Peter told the new Christians to be prepared, because they would receive questions about why they have chosen Christ! To have this type of readiness requires preparation and each person had to equip themselves to be ready when that time came for them to answer the question: “Why?” When they were asked why they believe there was not to be any hesitation or pause; they were to be prepared to engage in the conversation at a moment’s notice. Imagine the damage a fire could cause when the fire bell sounds and the firemen pause while trying to remember what they were supposed to do. There is no room for pausing and wondering if you are a fireman. You must know your job and know when to act on a moment’s notice. This is the mentality that we should have as it relates to teaching others about our faith and being able to answer their questions.
Peter said that they were to always be ready with a defense or an answer for anyone who asks them about their hope in Christ. That word defense in the Greek means to answer back, to reply, to respond and to defend. Let’s focus for a minute on the word “defend.” Paul used this work when he wrote to the Church at Philippi. He said, “Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the ‘defense’ of the gospel.” (Philippians 1:15-16) In using this word, Paul acknowledged that part of his God-given task was to answer questions put to him by unbelievers of the Gospel. This is also what Peter was saying on a personal level. The word “defend” is defined as “to protect something from attack; to represent and speak on behalf of; offer support for, especially by arguing against the objections; to resist the attacks…” When we defend something, depending on the situation, we are in protection mode in that our goal is to protect whatever is being attacked. When Peter wrote to those new Christians, he was asking them to protect the Word by being able to explain it to others. When we defend we also do it by speaking up on behalf of something. For example, someone tells you something that you know is not the truth – what do you do in that situation? You speak up for the truth and offer your support for it. You resist accepting what you know to be a lie. Peter asked those new believers to take what they have heard and sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts so that they know what they know. There would not be any doubt. They were certain about what they believed, why they believed it and could teach it (explain their beliefs) to others. Peter was saying that as a Christian we should be constantly and always ready, set to go and prompt to answer every person that asks for a reason for the hope that lies within us due to our belief in Jesus Christ. He said that we should be prepared to answer every man who asks you about your faith. The Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is for every man, regardless of race, class or color. To that end we must be ready to answer the question!
I want to make something very clear to you. If I were to ask you how many of you have ever had someone ask you about what you believe most of the hands in this sanctuary would go up. Peter made it clear that non-Christians will ask Christians about their beliefs. Sometimes they do it to argue and sometimes they do it because they are on the fence and they really want to know. It does not matter the motives of the person asking, we need to be able to answer clearly why we believe. The word “asks” that Peter used is the Greek word “aiteo.” I want you to see this. This word in the Greek means, “to be adamant in requesting and demanding something.” It is not a mere wish for an answer; it’s a demand for an answer for something that someone is longing for. This same word was used in Mark 15:43 when Joseph of Arimathea came to the Council to request the body of Jesus after He was crucified. The word “craved” is a great translation for the word “aiteo.” Joseph of Arimathea “craved” the body of Jesus so strongly that he went to Pilate and strongly asked for it. If we assume that the non-Christian, regardless of how they approach us, really want to know the answer then we must be ready to tell them. We need to have our answer ready.
I know you may be wondering what you should be able to explain to others about your relationship with Christ. While every personal testimony is truly personal, I do want to share with you a few key things that you should know and have settled within your hearts.
God’s Plan of Salvation
1. We were separated from God through Sin. (Genesis 3; Isaiah 59:2; Romans 5:8-12)
2. Because we are sinners, we are condemned to death. We have to accept that the fact that we are sinners and in need of a Savior. (Romans 3:23; 6:23)
3. Jesus came, lived a sin free life and died on the cross so that through His death we could be reunited with God. (John 3:16-18; Romans 4:25; 5:8; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18)
4. We are saved through grace by accepting Christ as our personal Savior. (John 1:12; John 3:16-18; Acts 2:38;16:30-31; Romans 10:13; Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5-7)
5. Our personal testimony.
The first four on this list is milk, baby food. This is the bare minimum of what we should know and understand in order to be able to have a discussion with any non-Christian who asks us why we believe. This does not require us to be Bible scholars – it’s milk!!! No one can explain your faith but you so number five can be solid food because for you to share it you will need to have moved beyond milk. Your words may not be perfect, but people will know your life and they will see the results. This is not about perfection, it’s about knowing why you believe what you believe and can explain it when asked.
Next week we will continue with the second behavior of a baby Christian. Please read and meditate on 2 Timothy 2:15 and Hebrews 4:12.
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
(2 Timothy 2:15)
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
