Category: Growing Up – Not Childish

Let’s read aloud together the following verses and prayer:
 
Philippians 3:12-15a (NRSVUE)
¹² Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to lay hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have laid hold of it, but one thing I have laid hold of: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal, toward the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let those of us, then, who are mature think this way,

Prayer: Father, though we haven’t already reached the goal, we press on to take hold of that for which Christ has laid hold of us. We forget what lies behind and move forward in your calling upon us. By your grace, help us to think this way today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “Salvation Belongs To You” by Passion (click here).

-KW

Ephesians 4:15-16 (NRSVUE)
¹⁵ but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

“In contrast to the instability and immaturity to which wrong beliefs lead, Paul wants these Christians to reach a maturity that comes with a full knowledge of Christ. This involves maintaining a corporate confession of the faith, but doing so with a heart of love for brothers and sisters within the believing community…Without this common confession of faith, they will be susceptible to various kinds of false and unhealthy teaching (4:14)…’Confessing the truth’ is a better translation than ‘speaking the truth’ since the latter can be read as simply an exhortation to truthfulness in speech. In this context, however, it conveys the more specific sense of accepting the truth of the gospel, speaking it out loud in the corporate gatherings of worship, talking about it with fellow believers, and upholding it firmly.” (Clinton E. Arnold, Ephesians, Zondervan ECOTNT)

Prayer: Father, thank you for the truth of the gospel and knowledge of Jesus that you have given us! Build us up in love as we continue to confess what is true in prayer, to ourselves, and to one another. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s sing “The God We Love (Nicene Creed)” by CityAlight and Matt Redman (click here).

-KW

Ephesians 4:14 (NRSVUE)
¹⁴ We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming;

1 Corinthians 13:11, 14:20  (NIV)
¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ²⁰ Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults.

“The New Testament tells us we are to katargeo childish behavior patterns and attitudes that are keeping us from maturity. This Greek word means ‘to put away, to render inoperative, inactive, or powerless, to remove the meaning and significance from…’…Childish things don’t simply fall away by themselves as dead leaves fall from a tree. We have to put them away, katargeo them, and be ‘finished with childish things’ (NEB).” (David Seamands, Putting Away Childish Things)

Childish ways of thinking, reasoning and speaking do make us unstable and wobbly in life and in our faith. As the Holy Spirit empowers us, let’s put away childish ways and we will walk stably and surely in the Lord.

Prayer: Father, I want to grow up to be able to walk and run steadily and surely. Give me your grace to see childish ways I have held onto and fill me with your power to put them away. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s worship to “Because of Jesus” by Charity Gayle (click here).

-KW

 

Ephesians 4:11-13 (NRSVUE)
¹¹ He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³ until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

“…the pastors and teachers are responsible to train the members of the body so that they in turn can minister to one another and build up the church body…The fully equipped saints are then responsible to do ‘the work of ministry.’…Each child of God is given those ministry gifts that will enable her, as God wills, to take her place in the life of the church…” (Grant Osbourne, Ephesians: Verse by Verse)

The body of Christ is being built up! And you and I are part of that process – we are being equipped to care for and love the church. This is how we grow, and how the body of Christ matures as we minister to one another.

Prayer: Father, thank you for the church, the body of Christ. Teach me and help me to take my place in building up the body of Christ, to grow in caring for another. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s offer ourselves again to God as we sing “Build My Life” by Pat Barrett (click here).

-KW

 

 

1 Peter 2:2-3 (NIV)
² Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, ³ now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

“First Peter 2:2 continues with the metaphor of an infant craving milk and thus plays on the theme of new birth, introduced in 1:3…Peter is not describing the recent conversion of his readers, for he has already described all believers as reborn children of God, regardless of how long ago their conversion has occurred. He uses the metaphor to instruct them to crave the things of God even as newborn babies crave milk – instinctively, eagerly, incessantly…Peter sees milk as that which all Christians need in order to nurture their new life in Christ, so that they will ‘grow up’ into salvation…” (Karen H. Jobes,  1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary)

We have indeed tasted that the Lord is good! So today, in response may we crave the things of God – his Spirit, his presence, his Word, his grace, his filling – and come ready to take it all in. In this way, we grow up in our salvation.

Prayer: Father, thank you for new life in Christ! I’m eager to meet with you today and be nurtured by your pure spiritual milk. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Let’s seek God’s face, with open hearts ready to be filled once again as we sing “Weight of Heaven” by Planetshakers (click here).

-KW