2 Chronicles 24:2, 15, 17-18
Spoon feeding is an important aspect of life, all of us as children have been spoon fed. I had the privilege of being spoon fed, mom did it patiently with treats, and dad did it not so patiently with threats. Sorry for those of you who were too independent and fed yourself (and your cloths & high chair you sat on).
I cannot stress enough on the importance of spoon feeding, especially now that we have a 7 month old who is completely dependent on us for feeding him. If we don’t feed him and he were to help himself, he will not survive. And, oh the joy of feeding that little mouth, and seeing the grin on his face as he swallows each scoop and notices the approval in your face! But if this guy is 5 and I still have to spoon feed him, I don’t know how much I will enjoy it.
Now, imagine if your son/daughter is 21, would you spoon feed him/her? What if he/she is 35? 50? 70? I guess at some point past 85-90 some may need spoon feeding again, let’s not go that far, for now. You are expecting your child to grow up, become independent and accept responsibility. Solomon may put it this way, there is a time to spoon feed and there is a time to refrain.
If we have expectations from our children, how much more God expects from us. Jesus said, to whom much is given, much is required. Paul put it this way, ‘Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.’ Ephesians 4:15, 16 ESV.
There are plenty of portions of scripture that points to the fact of ‘new birth or the born again experience’, John 3:1-21 is a classic passage on the subject. When a child is born, he/she is not expected to help themselves, likewise when a person is born again, he/she is not expected to know everything and do everything perfectly. But God is expecting all of us to grow up (spiritually), God expects us to stop being spoon fed, and God expects us to go out and replicate (bring more people to faith in Christ by preaching the gospel) and God expects us to spoon feed those who are born again. Now, you can go from grade 1 to grade 12 in 12 years, or you can go from grade 1 to grade 12 in 15 or 18yrs, you can decide your pace. Or you can stay in Kindergarten all your life. Many churches have become pre-schools, people are content with the spoon feeding they receive. Don’t get me wrong, they are well-meaning folks who attend every church meeting and paying their tithe on time and will throw in extra funds for missions and volunteer at homeless shelters.
What do I mean by spoon feeding in the spiritual sense? Everyone was led to Christ by someone, or by the circumstances they grew up in (Christian homes/schools). The person who led you to Christ may or may not contribute to your spiritual growth by feeding you with scripture, praying with you and basically holding your hand as you learn to walk the Christian walk. The pastor of the church or an elder or deacon may help. There comes a point where we grow up, mature in our relationship with God, where we don’t need someone babying us. Please note, when I’m referring to spoon feeding, that does not include fellowship of the saints (where we all need each other) or learning & studying scripture under a godly leader (pastor/ deacon). We should always have a spiritual accountability partner and authority, or there is a possibility of spiritual pride and other sins which will take the best of us. We have to learn till we depart from this earth.
This is how you know you got over spoon feeding; when you wrestle with God in prayer, you spend time in the word. Every time an issue comes up in life, you don’t run to your pastor or elder, you spend time in prayer and seeking God. You learn to trust in God. You receive your answers from God. You have a personal knowledge of God. You are not living on borrowed faith anymore!
It is about time we grow up and reproduce and spoon feed the ones we reproduce! If we ourselves are still spoon-feeding and the spoon feeder dies, we too will die, because we never learned to feed ourselves, which means we will not fulfill the Lord’s commandment to preach the gospel and we will have no posterity to feed!
Spoon fed Christians die when the spoon-feeder dies! Let’s look at 2 Chronicles 24:2, 15, 17-18.
Joash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.
Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them. Therefore they left the house of the LORD God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass.
This is the young boy king Joash who repaired the temple but later he turned away from The Lord. Spoon fed Christians die when the spoon feeder dies! (I know he was a Jewish King, lets hold on to that argument for another day). If you look at the preceding chapter (2 Chronicles 23), it gives the detailed story of how priest Jehoiada protected and established Joash as a king. We can pick up different reasons as to why Joash fell-away; he was not truly a believer at heart to begin with, Jehoiada was spoon-feeding him all the while he was alive, or Joash was gullible and did whatever the people told him to do. There are possibly more reasons we can come up with but there isn’t time to address everything in one session. So, I’ll pick one reason – the guy who set out to repair the house of God fell away because he was spoon fed! He probably did not have any real experience with God as his predecessor king David did. He was living on borrowed faith!
David had an experiential knowledge of God, no wonder he wrote ‘o taste and see’ in Psalm 34. He delighted in God’s laws, commandments, precepts and judgements. Psalms 119:11 is a classic example of David’s devotion to the word of God. Even though he did big blunders more than once, he did not completely fall away. Not only did he knew the Good Shepherd, he also followed the Good Shepherd. Plenty of scripture portions to prove he spent time in worship and prayer.
Rely on God and follow Him because you want to and because it is the right thing to do, not because someone told you to. And even at times when people in higher spiritual authority cox you to do things contrary to the word of God, you'll be able to withstand it.
A word for leaders/teachers/pastors - make people self-reliant (in the sense that they follow God, not you – unless you are Paul the apostle). Biggest folly in many circles is that the people follow the leader not Christ or God Himself. When the leader fails or dies, people turn away from God. I’m sure you can recollect many recent incidents, I do not wish to name any. We ought to pray for such leaders and pastors and pray for their restoration, not judge them.
Train people to rely on God, His Spirit & His word.
Paul says in 1 Cor 13:11 when I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me (NIV). He is talking in regards to spiritual gifts and love. There is a progression in Christian life; Christian life is exciting and adventurous. There are ups and downs, there are mountains and valleys, there is drought and rain, there is fire and flood, but through it all there is a progression. We learn to love God and love people and yearn for higher spiritual gifts that will benefit all and bless your soul! Give ‘birth’ to some ‘babies’, ‘spoon-feed’ them, make sure they mature, send them out so they can do what you did for them… then REPEAT! Like the Psalmist says in Psalm 92:14, even in your old age you will bear fruit!
