The text for our meditation on God’s Holy Word is the epistle lesson appointed for the day. I bring you grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
“Why don’t you act your age—not your foot size!” “How immature!” “You’re acting like a baby!” “Oh, for goodness sake, grow up!” Those are the kinds of expressions we hear from kids at school and from our parents—from our friends and families and from our spouses-- when our maturity level is not what it ought to be.
But I don’t know if any of us expect to hear these words from our pastor. And yet, the Corinthians did—and through Paul’s words—we do too. “Grow up!”
You see, not only are we expected to grow up physically and emotionally and intellectually—but God expects us to grow up spiritually—that over the course of our Christian life we would become more mature in our Christian faith—more mature in our Christian outlook—more mature in our Christian life—that we would “grow up.” Paul experienced that in his own life of faith. He said:
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. And God expects the same of us: that we would “grow up” spiritually into the mature sons and daughters that he created us, redeemed us, and sanctified us to be. And so that’s what we’re going to talk about today: what spiritual immaturity is- what undermines our spiritual growth -and how we can “grow up” spiritually. Paul writes:
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready… When someone tells us to “grow up” it’s difficult to hear that in any other way than as an insult—and we quickly get defensive. That’s why I want you to focus on that one little word that begins our text and informs us as to how we are to hear these words to “grow up”—and that is the word “brother.” Paul addressed the Corinthian Christians—and he addresses the Kingsville Christians—as brothers and sisters in Christ—members of the same household of faith—children of the same heavenly Father. And so God’s command through Paul to “grow up”-- is spoken out of genuine love and concern for our spiritual well-being—that there would be growth and progress in our spiritual life.
When people in Corinth began coming to faith in Jesus and then joined together in a Christian congregation—they were infants in the faith—they were newly re-born believers in Jesus—just beginning to learn what it meant to be a child of God.
And so Paul taught them simply: he told them about their sin and need for God—he told them about the Savior God had given in Christ—he told them how the Spirit had worked to bring them to life. It’s the same thing we do in Sunday School & confirmation & new member classes. And through the word of the cross they became children of God.
Five years had passed from the founding of that congregation to this letter—five years from when they came to faith in Jesus-- to where they found themselves spiritually when they received this letter. The problem was: they hadn’t progressed much at all in those five years—they were still infants in the faith—they hadn’t grown up or matured.
When it comes our children’s physical growth and maturation—five years is a phenomenal amount of time—a newborn baby that is absolutely helpless, incapable of communication, and barely aware its surroundings, five years later has become a little boy with lunch box in hand heading off to the first day of school—able to tie his shoes and go to the potty by himself. Fantastic progress has been made in those five years!
But those five years between the Corinthians being born again- and the occasion of this letter- had not yielded five years worth of spiritual growth and maturity. Yes, they were saved—yes, they were Christians—but they hadn’t grown up in their faith.
What about us? What positive changes have the last five years brought in our life of faith? Do we have a deeper knowledge of the things of God? Have we grown in Christ-likeness? Are we more spiritually mature today than we were back then? That’s what our heavenly Father wants to see in his children. But if not, then these words from Paul about the need to “grow up” spiritually-- are spoken to us too.
And so what was the problem that was impeding the Corinthian’s growth in the faith? What is it that keeps us from becoming mature Christians? Paul writes:
You are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human? Earlier in our sermon series on these opening chapters of First Corinthians we talked about how there was factionalism and division in the congregation stemming from their individual attachments to some pastor who had served them—how, what should have been a harmless preference-- had turned into a hurtful problem.
In their hearts they were jealous of one another—each wanted the prestige that came from being attached to some great pastor. And this attitude showed up in how they treated one another—fussing and fighting and failing to get along. Jealousy and strife was the sinful attitude and behavior—but what was at the root of it went much deeper.
The Corinthians were living according to the flesh—what Paul calls being
“merely human”. In other words, they were living like the unbelieving world around them—living according to their old, sinful nature-- living as if they had never come to faith at all. That new person that they were through faith in Jesus—that new person that was supposed to grow and mature in Christ-likeness—that new person which was called forth from the waters of Holy Baptism to walk in newness of life was nowhere to be seen.
What about us? It doesn’t have to be strife or jealousy or divisiveness that reveals an immature Christian faith—it can be any attitude or action that looks like the unbelieving world rather than the new person we are in Christ.
Maybe it’s the way we regard money—that we count it as “ours” rather than the Lord’s-- to be spent however we see fit with giving to the church as an afterthought rather than a priority.
Maybe it’s the content of what we watch on TV or see at the movies --and our viewing habits aren’t really informed by God’s counsel that our minds be filled with those things that are pure, noble, beautiful, and praiseworthy.
Maybe it’s a constant cycle of conflict in our marriage and family because we are not loving our wives and respecting our husbands and obeying our parents.
Maybe it is our attitude towards others and we find ourselves unforgiving and embittered towards someone rather than filled with loving-kindness for them.
Anytime some facet of our lives looks like the unbelieving world rather than Jesus—anytime our actions and attitudes are guided by our flesh rather than the Spirit—there is a lack of spiritual maturity in that part of our lives and we need to grow up. And so how does that happen—this growth that God is looking for from us? Paul says:
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. The solution to growing up spiritually begins with knowledge--that we know and understand what God’s will is for our lives-- and what he teaches about each part of our lives as his people. We don’t chastise kindergartners for only knowing their A, B, C’s (after all they have to begin somewhere) but neither are we content that they possess only that knowledge when they get to fifth grade. They should have matured in the things they know and their ability to do them—their knowledge ought to have expanded. So it is in our spiritual lives. Paul says in Romans chapter 12:
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For a Christian to be conformed to the world: is immature—it is fleshly—it is merely human. To grow up in our faith we need to be renewed in our minds and understand what the will of God is for our lives.
That’s what Paul was doing for the Corinthians in these verses—he was telling the Corinthians-- not only that the way they were thinking about the pastors who have served them was incorrect and sinful—but he was also explaining how they ought to think about their pastors—that pastors were merely servants who did the thing that needed to be done for the people of God in that moment.
The same thing is needed if there is some facet of our lives that has not attained spiritual maturity—we need to search God’s Word for what our heavenly Father has to say about money and entertainment and family and relationships and believe it and order our lives accordingly. But to do that—we need God’s help.
Our heavenly Father is the One who caused us to be born again and he is the One who helps us grow up in our faith to reach spiritual maturity. Paul writes:
For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's field, God's building.Earlier in the sermon I mentioned how important it was that we hear this call to “grow up” spoken in the context of that word ‘brother”—that Paul has our best interests at heart when he tells us to “grow up”. I hope these closing words will provide the same comfort.
When we look back at the last five years of our lives of faith, maybe we don’t see a lot of spiritual growth—maybe we haven’t become more Christ-like—maybe our knowledge of the things of God hasn’t really deepened all that much. It’s easy to become discouraged. But Paul reminds us:
We are God’s field. We are God’s building. In other words, the God who saved us by the blood of his Son hasn’t given up on us anymore than we give up on our children when we are teaching them to tie their shoes or ride a bike.
Like a farmer plowing a field or a craftsman building a building—God is at work in us. He knows what he is looking for in us and so he patiently works through pastors (his fellow workers) to shape us into a finished product: the mature Christian who is fruitful in good works and whose life is beautiful monument to the glory of God and the goodness of Christ.
When we listen to the pastor’s sermon on God’s Word and study the Bible in Sunday School and receive the Sacrament of the Altar—there in those moments-- and through that man-- and by those humble means—God is work in us, helping us to grow up in our faith in Jesus.
Most of us have seen the bumper sticker: “Be patient—God’s not finished with me yet” and usually we can add our hearty “Amen!” But the good news is that slogan is true of us too. We’re not as mature a Christian as we ought to be—we haven’t grown up into all that God wants us to be. But the Lord’s not finished with us yet and he will help us to grow up in our faith as we hear his Word and receive the sacrament. Amen.
And now may the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.
