SPIRITUAL
BABIES
INTRO: Most Christians
are spiritual babies, and if not, they will be somewhere between…let’s look
at the different levels of a believer’s life…
• Infant: Baby,
can’t do anything for themselves, wants to be loved and cuddled all of the
time, takes a lot of attention, cry a lot, must be spoon feed all the time, you
have to change their diapers, wash them etc.
• Adolescence: Some where between baby and adult, very clumsy,
think they know it all, obnoxious, moody, ready to tear up the world one day and
acting like a child the next, uncontrolled emotions.
• Adult: Knowledgeable of life and its dangers and treasures,
Controlled emotions, Can maneuver through life with some level of skill, does
not need to be babied or spoon feed, makes their own decisions, does not live
off of others but can stand on their own feet.
A lot of Christians today are floating
some where between all of these. In the world when we see someone like this we
will say something like " I wish that person would grow up" or "
why don’t you quit acting like a baby" because when someone is grown and
an adult it is sickening to see them act like a baby. It is frustrating when a
baby or adolescent tries to act like an adult thinking they know everything and
know just enough to be dangerous.
God wants us to have a healthy life as
Christians. He wants us to grow up and mature in the things of the Lord and take
on our responsibilities, as we should, to be balanced and allow Him to guide us
and mature us that we might be effective Christians in this world.
In the world if someone does not act
their age it is annoying but we can go on and it isn’t a life or death
situation, but in the spiritual realm it causes all kinds of problems. It’s
the most serious thing we deal with in our lives.
The biggest thing the Church deals with
today is baby Christians, it is also one of the most difficult things the
disciples dealt with. It’s always been a problem of the Church and has hurt
its effectiveness.
A.
A Spiritual Mature Christian will have three characteristics in their lives.
a. Knowledge
b. Commitment
c. Character
I.
IMMATURITY IN THE CHURCH IS A DEADLY CONDITION.
A.
Paul dealt with immaturity in the church and the word bares its problems.
(1
Cor 3:1-3)
(Heb
5:12-14)
(Heb
6:1) Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let
us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from
dead works, and of faith toward God,
(Heb
6:2-8)
a. It is a serious thing to stay a baby
in Christ.
b. People that choose to stay babies in
Christ are people that can’t make up their mind if they want to live for God
or this world.
c. It is as simple as that, you only
allow enough of the word of God in to your life to make yourself feel good and
not make the change in your life.
d. Instead of being an asset to the
kingdom of God you continue to remain a burden and a drain on the kingdom of
God.
e. People have to continually chase
after you, treating you like a baby Christian, spoon feeding you, changing your
diapers, burping you.
f. Paul dealt with this and today we
have an epidemic in the Church with baby Christians.
g. This drains everyone’s time, and
abilities to carry out the mission of the Church, because we are babysitting
instead of feeding those that need to be going on with Christ.
B.
Three things in a Spiritual Mature Christians Life:
1. Knowledge:
Biblical knowledge, not church knowledge, not worldly knowledge but scriptural
knowledge.
(2
Tim 2:15)
a. Paul dealt with a lot of Christians
that heard the word but did not follow the word.
b. To have real Biblical Knowledge you
must hear the word and be a doer of the word.
(James
1:21- 23)
(1
John 2:3 KJV) And hereby[1] we do know that we know[2] him, if we[3]
keep his commandments.
(Rom
2:13 KJV) (For not[1] the hearers of the law are just before God, but
the[2] doers of the law shall be justified[3].
2.
Commitment: Sincere
devotion to God.
a. Commitment limits your life. This is
were we have problems, we don’t want our life limited, we want to do what we
want to do, but to commit to God will limit your worldly life.
b. It limits your life with,
1. Obedience,
you must now be obedient to God and not this world, you must only serve one
master, not your own flesh.
(Mat
6:24 NLT) "No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one
and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve
both God and money.
(1
John 2:15-17)
2. Giving:
You will now have to give everything to God, your time, your talent, your money,
your everything. This is where people have a big problem, they say they trust
God but they want to hold the purse strings.
(Mat
25:28-30)
2a. God expects us to use our talents
for him and if we don’t he will take them away and give them to someone that
will use them.
2b. Commitment
means giving everything to him, everything and trusting him with it. Our
money, we should give as the word of God as instructed us and trust Him to
meet our needs, we want to hold the money because we don’t really trust Him
with our needs. Our time, we want to
live for Him as long as He is ok with fitting in with whatever time we have left
over. Our talents, we would rather
use them in this world to make money for ourselves than to study and work to use
our talents for the Kingdom of God, because it may not pay us “loads of
money”.
3. Prayer:
You must spend time in prayer, earnest prayer.
(James
5:16 KJV) Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that ye may be healed. The effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
3a. It the effectual fervent prayer, not
a short memorized prayer, not just a limited amount, but fervent prayer, that is
what real commitment in Christ is like. We just want to pray enough to make us
feel like we have done our part.
3b. Prayer is nothing more than
communication with someone you love and have a relationship with. If you don’t
talk to someone you supposedly love, you don’t really love him or her.
3.
Godly Character: Not well dressed, well managed, saying the right things.
a. Not mans change, But Holy Ghost
change.
(Mat
23:27-28)
b. True Godly character is not what we
do ourselves, but is truly a Godly change on the inside.
c. It is a Holy Ghost change, a Holy
Ghost baptism that totally submerges us in God.
d. We are no longer our own but Gods.
e. We now allow Gods word to direct us
and to change us.
f. We no longer follow our own desires,
but Gods.
g. Our lives are moved by Gods love, the
love that is not self-serving, but giving.
IN
CLOSING….
(Phil
3:14-20)
PEOPLE
THAT REFUSE TO GROW UP ARE REALLY REFUSING GOD, HIS WORD AND SPIRIT THAT CAN
BRING CHANGE IN OUR LIVES. IF WE REFUSE THIS, THAN WE WILL NEVER GROW UP IN GOD,
AND WE WILL FALL AWAY.