"Milk and Meat: Moving Toward Christian Maturity"
(I Corinthians 3:1-11)
A sermon delivered by Dr. David L. Haun
Hope Christian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida
May, 2004
When you were a child, didn’t it seem to take a long time to 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 it came, and I longed to be 16 and have a driver’s license. In the play of young children, their role is always that of a grownup, whether it’s cowboys, sports, or playing house with dolls.
In the same way there are many in church who hunger to grow. They desire a deeper awareness of Christ’s truths, They long for a stronger faith for living and a more meaningful maturity.
In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, 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. 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 first step into Maturity is to recognize some distortions to faith we will meet in our Spiritual walk.
(a) First is the feeling that what we hear in our present church isn’t truly meat. The thought arises, "you’ll never find teaching good enough here. What they preach isn’t mature. You have grown beyond them and you need to look elsewhere till you find meat. Some people 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 am I, and who is Apollos, that we should be the cause of a quarrel? Why, we’re just God’s servants, each of us with certain special abilities, and with our help you believed. My work was to plant the seed in your hearts, and Apollos’ work was to water it; but it was God, not we who made the garden grow in your heart. (I Cor. 3:5-6)
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.
The Scriptural message is this: if you and I have grown in some area of our faith beyond milk, and are ready for meat, we must teach that insight we have gained to those less mature, rather than merely seeking more meat for ourselves.
(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.
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 childhood 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 Vacation Bible 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.
II.
The second step in our move toward maturity is to remember that Familiarity can limit mastering God’s message.
In a former church I served, a mother 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..." 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.
Some time ago, I was reading my daily devotion. That day’s Scripture was the prodigal son. In my years of ministry, I 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. You see, 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.
III.
The third step in developing 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.
Do you see? Every message contains for every person, some milk, some meat, and opportunities for prayer and direction.
IV.
GROWTH IS A MATTER OF PERSONAL DECISION.
Growth builds on foundations already in place. Jesus taught once of the need for a strong foundation for a lasting house. And that is true. Growth can only grow on what already is there.
A difference between an average high school student entering college and a college student entering graduate school is this: The high school student often assumes learning is limited to what the teacher gives in the classroom. 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 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?
You and I have heard the "milk" of forgiveness. We know God’s requirement. Why should we expect God’s "meat" of peace in life until we deal with the milk of forgiveness and cleanse the bitterness we are hiding?
You and I have heard the milk of living pure lives. We know how God wants us to act. Why expect God to multiply his blessings until we begin the practice of the pure living he expects? As the Scripture says, Solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:14)
God has invited us to his dinner table. There will be some meat. There will be some milk. Sit down and try them all. You may well find them the best meal you ever have shared.....
