Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copies and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible. Thanks to Rev. Anthony Mancina for some of the ideas for this sermon. His sermon may be viewed on Sermoncentral.com and the title of his sermon is "When I Was A Child".
Pastor James May
IT’S TIME TO GROW UP!
Sunday, December 08, 2002 PM
One of the greatest problems that the church faces today is that there is such a huge lack of spiritual maturity. Too many people are immature and unable to handle the work that God desires them to do because they haven’t grown up in Him. It’s high time that we learn to grow up in Christ so that we can become profitable servants in His house.
What things can we recognize as marks of immaturity and what changes can we make in our walk with the Lord to ensure that we will mature in strong Christians and act like it?
1)Learn to put away childish things. In other words, quit acting like spoiled brats!
1 Corinthians 13:11, "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."
How does a child act?
Impressionable – it doesn’t take much to impress a child. You can offer them most anything and they will take it. Likewise, when we act as children in the things of God we are unable or unwilling to think it through and then we are carried around like a flag in the shifting breeze and we flap our mouths in whatever direction the devil pushes us.
Have you ever been around people who didn’t know what they really believed? That is because most have never taken the time to grow in the Word of God and to establish their heart and mind in His Word. They are easy targets for Satan as he spreads every wind of doctrine. These are the immature Christians who cannot rightly divide, or correctly interpret God’s Word and so every teaching they hear can easily make an impression on them and they can easily be led astray by following other immature people.
Gullible – Another characteristic of a child is that they can easily be convinced of just about anything if you can get them to trust you, and they trust everyone for a while.
In recent days there has been a rash of kidnappings and attempts at kidnapping. With pedophiles roaming around preying on young children and teenagers we must be ever so careful of allowing our children and youth to walk the streets or even play in the yard.
It is so easy to kidnap a child because they are so gullible and trusting. They can be made to believe any story, accept any lie and they can be led by a simple promise.
I know too many Christians who act that way too.
Just let a better offer come around for a job, for a position in the church or for a little recognition and self-gratification and you will see multitudes of preachers applying for the job. Let some preacher come along that has a little more charismatic personality and people will flock to him. Let the news spread that there is a great revival happening somewhere and people will travel for many miles to get in on the excitement.
Let the laser lights flash and pyrotechnics explode and the crank up the music and you will have teenagers flocking by the thousands even though the truth of God’s Word is buried deep within the glamour and glitz of the event.
Remember this youth ministers, if you have to reach them that way, then you’ll have to keep getting bigger light shows and more flashy pyrotechnic shows and louder and louder bands to keep them because those things don’t have the anointing of the Holy Spirit in them and there is no power to change lives in firecrackers and laser lights.
The real power to change lives comes only through the anointing of the Holy Ghost and that still, small voice of the Lord as he speaks to the individual heart of each youth.
Have you ever applied for a job and found out, after you quit another job you liked, to find out that you had jumped from the “frying pan into the fire”? We often make decisions based on our gullible, immature thinking.
Lest you believe otherwise, let me tell you right now that every preacher you hear isn’t telling the truth. Every newspaper and magazine you read aren’t telling the truth. The TV news on CNN, Fox, ABC, NBC and CBS don’t always tell the truth either. There are so very few voices out there that you can believe!
If you are going to grow up in the Lord and quit acting as a little child, you will have to get to the place where you doubt everything that everyone says until you can prove their words by what the Word of the God says. That’s the real test of reality! If there is even the slightest hint that what you are seeing or hearing doesn’t line up with the Word of God, then run with all your might and fall on your face before God in repentance.
There are an awful lot of ministers out there who are self-seeking. All they care for is recognition, power and control over those who will allow them to control them. All they desire is a paycheck and platform to perform upon. Beware of such “ministers” for they are wolves in sheep’s clothing and they will draw many away from the truth of the Gospel.
2)Another mark of childhood is that children are very manipulative!
If you don’t think that’s true I want to remind you of how often teenagers and young children play mom and day against one another to get their own way.
I also want to remind you that teens and kids, and yes even adults, can get people to do what they want by threatening to not “come out and play”. They will ostracize you from their click. You won’t be part of the “in crowd” and no will associate with you anymore. They then start to make fun, ridicule and insult you to the point that it’s almost unbearable.
It’s sad to say but I’ve seen that same characteristic in a whole lot of ministers and people who were supposed to be spiritual leaders in the church!
Whenever I teach on loyalty in the church I am always concerned that those who are not mature enough to understand how loyalty works will use that teaching in an effort to manipulate other people of lesser understanding. In some churches I have seen pastors use loyalty and other guises to manipulate people and make them bow to their own wishes.
I have seen, on several occasions, youth ministers and youth leaders who would manipulate and “work things around” so that those under their leadership would have little choice but to do what they wanted them to.
Manipulation is a mind game and should never be a part of the ministry. Jesus never used manipulation to get anyone to do anything. He wants us to serve Him, worship Him and desire to be like Him of our own free will and not through coercion.
3) Another characteristic that is found in the heart of a child is that they have a
desire to maintain control over everything they have.
I have done my best to teach the leadership of this church and to let them all know that they are not in control. This is God’s house! This is God’s ministry! And those under your leadership are God’s children, not yours! We are not your Lords! We, in the ministry are not your Masters! We preachers are not your Saviors! And we will never be able to fulfill those needs in your life. Ministers and pastors are not to be your master, they are to be your servant. They are not to be your Lord, they are to be your slave under Christ. They are not to be your leaders unless they can first prove that they are followers of Jesus.
Never allow any preacher, teacher or minister to control your actions. Let the Holy Spirit lead you and no one else. When a minister oversteps that boundary and begins to control the way you talk, the places you go, who you go with and what you do, its time to run quickly from them. Control freaks abound and they get their self worth from their power to control the lives of others. Don’t fall victim to them. Enjoy your freedom in Christ!
It’s one thing for a preacher to attempt to lead you into the paths of righteousness and to show you the mistakes that you are headed for but it’s not in my power to make you turn or to force you to change your mind. That’s the job of the Holy Spirit and His alone!
4. Another mark of childishness is that children are selfish, self-centered and self-indulgent!
They don’t care how much it hurts anyone else, they want their way and it they don’t get it then comes the temper tantrum.
There is nothing more disheartening than to see Christians who have to always have their own way or they won’t take part in anything that is going on. If they can’t have the “say so” or if they don’t like the way someone else does something, then they will just refuse to have any part of it at all.
Have you ever seen children playing a game that they are unable to win? The first time they may just get upset and then try again. If they lose the next time you might see the board game go flying across the room.
That’s the way we behave when we are immature spiritually too. We may get upset and say some things the first time we see something we don’t agree with but we will come back to see if things improve the next time. But God help the one who makes the same mistake twice. We will begin to rip them apart and berate them to the place where they won’t want to even try again.
There is no power on earth with the destructive force of the tongue. With that little tongue you can make or break a fellow Christian forever. We cannot allow our tongue to get away from us and destroy the ministry of another person because we don’t agree with them or have a tolerant attitude toward their mistakes. Everyone deserves another chance. Everyone deserves the love and time to change and grow. We can either help them or encourage them or we can destroy them with our fits of anger.
Remember, if you don’t agree with someone that doesn’t necessarily make them wrong or you right. God often has a multitude of methods to get the work of His ministry accomplished and we can’t force Him into our own little mold.
5) Another characteristic of a child is that they can be very cruel.
They don’t care what they say or how it’s said, they just want their own way at all costs.
Have you ever been around kids when there is one close by who is mentally challenged or physically handicapped? Just listen for a few minutes and it won’t be long until you hear the cut downs!
Hey “four eyes” I love the horn rimmed glasses! Hey, I thought that everyone had two eyebrows but you only have one that goes all the way across! Hey, are you always looking for something on the ground or is that the way you were born? Hey, my grandma is slow too, but she died 10 years ago, speed up and let’s get going! Does that sound familiar?
Well, it may sound funny at times but I promise you that it is never funny to the one who is the brunt of the joke!
We can see this same thing happening in the church too. Let me tell you a few of the things I’ve heard said in recent days right in church or around church gatherings!
Hey, can’t you understand anything?
Don’t you know even the simplest stories of the Bible, you Moron?
Hey Stupid, see I knew you would know who I was talking to!
That brother or sister is so ignorant they can’t even find Genesis or Revelation and they surely don’t know where to find the maps.
That is the dumbest mistake I’ve ever seen anyone do in church.
Did you know that when God make idiots that you were the first one to receive an experimental brain that malfunctions?
That sounds funny doesn’t it? Well try being the one that these things are said to and see if it’s funny then!
We hurt, put down, and destroy one another in one breath and then turn around and try to edify them in the next. James 3:8-10, "But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."
6) The last characteristic of a child that I want to bring to your remembrance is that they are often very mischievous!
Kids are always sneaking around, conniving and planning something to get their way or get a joke over on someone. They naturally want to have fun but that fun often turns into pain and hurt.
Have you ever seen the poor kid who went around school all day with the sign pasted to his back that said , “Kick Me”? He is constantly getting kicked and hit upon and doesn’t know why until he finds out then whoever put it there is in for a real surprise.
It’s no different in the church! We will often point fingers and lay the blame on someone else rather than face our own immaturity.
What, me immature? No Way Man! I’m a spiritual giant among lowly servants! Just ask me, I’ll tell you. I do more around the church, pray more and study more than anyone else. I can’t help it if they aren’t as good as me!
In closing folks, let me say that we need to get these attitudes out of our hearts if we want to be known as spiritually strong and mature people in Christ! It’s a mark of spiritual immaturity for us to act in any of these manners! It’s time for God’s people to grow up! God’s work and His Kingdom requires us to work as mature Christian to reach a lost world for Christ! We don’t have time to act like children!
