Several years ago I attended a youth rally where the speaker was known for being hard-nosed and direct. He had spoken the year before and some of the kids were not excited about him being back. He chose to begin his first talk by acknowledging the attitude of some of the kids toward him. Then he told them to "grow up."
It was a shocking way to begin a youth talk! It definitely grabbed the attention of the kids and was a striking image for his talk on maturity.
Maturity is the process of growing up in Christ. The New Testament writers present this theme over and over in their writings. For example, Hebrews exhorts his hearers to "move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity" (6:1). In Ephesians, Paul teaches unity in doctrine and practice and concludes that "we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ" (4:15).
The most expansive teaching about maturity is found in the entire letter of 1 Corinthians. In that letter, Paul wrote to a very immature church that struggled with many issues. They needed to grow up.
The center of their immaturity was their failure to get along and love each other with Christ-like love. To correct this, Paul taught about how the human body is like the spiritual body of Christ: many members, different functions, all working together in harmony for the body to function properly (1 Cor. 12:12-31). This leads into teaching about love, the "most excellent way" (12:31).
Without love, we are, quite simply, immature. If we have all the knowledge in the world, can teach outstanding classes, and attend every time the doors are open but do not love one another, our "service" is useless and we need to grow up. If we have unrealistic expectations of others and try to mold them into what we want, we are not loving them, and we are immature.
Consider the way of love, unity and maturity. Together, let us grow up in our faith.
It was a shocking way to begin a youth talk! It definitely grabbed the attention of the kids and was a striking image for his talk on maturity.
Maturity is the process of growing up in Christ. The New Testament writers present this theme over and over in their writings. For example, Hebrews exhorts his hearers to "move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity" (6:1). In Ephesians, Paul teaches unity in doctrine and practice and concludes that "we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ" (4:15).
The most expansive teaching about maturity is found in the entire letter of 1 Corinthians. In that letter, Paul wrote to a very immature church that struggled with many issues. They needed to grow up.
The center of their immaturity was their failure to get along and love each other with Christ-like love. To correct this, Paul taught about how the human body is like the spiritual body of Christ: many members, different functions, all working together in harmony for the body to function properly (1 Cor. 12:12-31). This leads into teaching about love, the "most excellent way" (12:31).
Without love, we are, quite simply, immature. If we have all the knowledge in the world, can teach outstanding classes, and attend every time the doors are open but do not love one another, our "service" is useless and we need to grow up. If we have unrealistic expectations of others and try to mold them into what we want, we are not loving them, and we are immature.
Consider the way of love, unity and maturity. Together, let us grow up in our faith.
