Age has nothing to do with becoming a mature adult.

Yes, I said what I said. And be honest, many of you at some point in your ‘adult’ life have been in a room with other people your same age and you have that moment of realization that age is just a number of how long a person has been around on this earth and has nothing to do with whether they are mature or not. Am I right, or am I right?

We see it all the time around us - grown ‘adults’…acting like children and you just want to ‘slap them’ and tell them to “Grow Up, for crying out loud!”. There is a funny understanding among school teachers how oftentimes, when you schedule a parent-teacher conference with a parent of a student who has been causing problems in the classroom…that upon the first few minutes of meeting them in person…you no longer have any questions as everything becomes clear. IYKYK :- )

I would humbly submit to you that if we could sum up in four words what God has been trying to communicate to the church for some time now, they would be: “Repent…& Grow Up!” And I’m being ‘soft’ here. Jesus added: “or else…” in His warnings to the seven churches in Rev. 2-3.

That was pretty much the same message Paul had for those ‘babes in Christ’ there in 1 Cor. 3:1-4, pointing out how ‘carnal’ they remained, citing some examples or ‘evident fruit’ they were exhibiting like division, strife and envy. Friends…he was not ‘cooing’ over them being ‘babes’, but was rebuking them and basically admonishing them to ‘grow up’. The “or else” part came in his second letter to them as you read in 2 Cor. 12:20-21.

Assuming Paul is the author of Hebrews, we see a similar rebuke in 5:12-14 where those believers were confronted as well, being told they should be on ‘meat’ now, yet they were still nursing on ‘milk’. Paul even expressed a hint of anxiety over wanting or waiting until ‘Christ was formed’ in the Galatians. (4:19). Sadly enough, today, many seem content and even falsely secure in the fact that while carnal and still a ‘baby in Christ’, they are ‘secure’ when it comes to being ‘saved’. I don’t see that expressed in scripture. On the contrary, the case could be made that Jesus Himself was expressing concern for those ‘nursing babies’ in Matt. 24:19 when He warned of what was ‘coming down the pipe’ in regards to tribulation. Allow me to explain…

If ‘babes in Christ’ remain carnal and full of envy and strife (to name a few traits) , then they could very well be the ones Jesus warns us about in Matt. 24:10-13 where many will be ‘offended’ (10) or as other translations say…”fall away”. He then goes on to say “but those who endure till the end will be ‘saved’. (13). Could this be the same ‘falling away’ we read about in 2 Thess. 2:3? And what do you make of how Jesus talked about young or new ‘believers’ in Luke 8:13, where they may have started out fast and enthusiastically, but because of temptations they faced, they …’fell away’ and never brought forth fruit to maturity. Sounds pretty serious to me, does it not to you?

I’ve heard it said on many occasions that today we live in a world where ‘children have to grow up fast’. Think about it…some of the topics they are confronted with in schools today at such a young age and if they don’t grow up fast, it could be detrimental to them. Could the same be said about ‘babes in Christ’ today? Take a look at 1 John 2:5 where we see that word ‘perfected’ again being the goal for all who truly abide in Jesus. You can see from a quick study where that word means- ‘complete’ or brought to ‘maturity’.

Ironically, we hear many voices from today’s ‘church’ world asking if there are any adults left in our nations’ capital who are capable of running the country responsibly. I have a hunch God is looking at the church asking the same question.