My wife and I were foster parents for several years. After adopting our two oldest, we continued to foster babies until we adopted our third child. One of the kids we fostered in between those years, holds a special place in our hearts, even though she was the hardest of any of them. The little girl came to us from a drug and neglected family, as most, but not all, did. We only had her for six months, because her mom and grandma worked hard to come out of their situation. During the time we had her, there were a lot of sleepless nights. The baby would cry for hours on end without any way to soothe her. The doctor thought it might be a reaction to the formula we were using, so we tried speciality formula, but it didn’t help. The only thing that would calm her, was constant movement. So we would take long late night drives, because if it was too short she’d wake up and we’d start at square one. When that became too taxing on us, we pushed her stroller through our yard in the middle of winter at 2 am. By the time she went home, she was able to sleep through the night without screaming. One of my favorite pictures is when our older two were in trouble and the baby, stood up to stand with them.
Out of all the stages of childhood, I love the infant stage, because kids just go with the flow, everything’s a new discovery, and they don’t talk back.
Well, this brings us to our second stage in the development of a disciple, which is the infancy stage. So if you have your Bibles, open up with me to the letter of 1st Peter 2:1. And as we open up to 1st Peter 2:1, let’s talk about stage one from last week really quick.
Last week we talked about how stage one in the discipleship making process is death or non-discipleship. Before we are a disciple, we weren’t. That stage from God’s perspective is being dead. We’re considered dead in our sin, because our sin, or those things we do in rebellion against God, lead to not only a physical death, but an eternal one. In order to get out of stage one death, we need to be re-born. We need a resurrection from the dead. This is done through a recognition that we are a sinner, and an acceptance of what Jesus has done to pay for that sin through his actions on the cross, which are accepted by the Father through the display of Jesus’ resurrection. When we have done this, the Holy Spirit indwells us, we move from death to life, and we enter into our discipleship by Jesus.
With stage one now back in our minds, we can move onto stage two, infancy. Let’s read 1 Peter 2:1-12 together.
“1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
“4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: ‘Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’ 7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,’ 8 and ‘A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.’ They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.
"9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
“11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”
Peter talks about newborns and longing for spiritual milk in order to grow. Before we unpack the passage, let’s quickly talk about what are some characteristics of infants and how those translate to an infant disciple.
The first characteristic of an infant are that they lack knowledge. To an infant, everything is new. Every sound, every sight, every touch, every smell is something new to experience. It’s the same with new believers. The experiences of the world, and especially within the Church become anew to the infant in Christ. Because of this, the infant is receptive to new information. They receive things quickly and take them as is, without much questioning. However, this leads into a mixing of worldly ideas with biblical teaching. If an infant disciple isn’t discipled well, or they do not take their instruction receptively, all sorts of weird teachings can occur.
The second characteristic is a focus on personal need. Infants need constant attention. They need time and affirmation. They need questions answered. Usually they are excited about the new things they are discovering, as if no one has ever learned what they are learning. Because they are so new to everything, they tend to be less graceful in dealing with people, they might just blurt out things without thinking of the consequences. Thinking that everyone who claims to be a Christian is fully mature, they might misinterpret another Christian’s actions as correct, though that other person might themselves still be in one of the first three stages. In the infant stage there is almost zero ability to discern what is godly and what is not.
A believer who is stuck in the infant stage has some characteristics of their own. They’ll say things like, “I don’t need to go to church regularly, I can connect with God anywhere.” Or “I don’t need to pray and read the Bible regularly.” Doctrines such as the Trinity are still very confusing to them. And they’ll say things like, “why isn’t it getting better?” The reason why a believer can get stuck in the infancy stage, is because they never get past the me first idea. They still need the affirmation that comes from people babying them. I think we all have seen or know that kid who’s eight or nine, and their parents are still treating them like their in diapers. And because of that, the kid acts like it.
Like I said last week, infancy isn’t bad, but staying an infant is.
So, how do we grow out of the infancy stage? This is where we can look back at our passage. One of the first things Peter says is, “… if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. (v.3)” This is a reference to moving from stage one to stage two. Understanding that God is good and is working for the good of this people is key to moving out of infancy. It helps us see that God will take care of us and we don’t have to worry.
From verses 4-8, Peter gets our focus on to Jesus. Everything is done on the foundation of what Jesus has done for us. We never earned salvation and we never will. Hebrews 12:2 states, “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus is both the founder of our faith and the one who will perfect it. We need to hold onto this, because the more we integrate this one idea, the quicker through the stages we’ll grow.
Starting in verse 9, Peter wants us to know our identity in Christ. We’re told that we “…are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him …” We are recipients of God’s mercy. Knowing who we are in Jesus will help us grow, because we need to hold to what God says and not what anyone else says. I believe that when we fully embrace this idea, we have transitioned from an immature believer to a mature one; which will talk about later in the series.
Finally, Peter wants us to recognize that we’re sojourners in this world. It’s not our home. Paul would say this in Philippians 3:20, “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ …” And because we are sojourners in this world, we must recognize what kind of world it is, it’s a world at war. There is a spiritual battle that’s occurring, and we’re in the middle of it. If you have ever seen a movie where someone wakes up to the reality of what’s really going on, this is what Peter’s talking about. Think “Planet of the Apes,” “Soylent Green,” or “The Matrix.” When we realize there is a spiritual war all around us, we begin to see that growth is not just something that is an option, but rather a need that if we don’t grow we might become a causality of war.
Taking this all in, what then do we need to do. I’m going to give you three building blocks to start out with in the infancy stage that will eventually lead to stage three.
First, get your own Bible. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it does’t need your name. But it does need to be a physical copy because you need to mark it up. Also, it should be accessible to you as a reader. God has blessed us with a lot of very good translations in the modern world. A good starting point is either a New International Version, or a New Living Bible. I myself started with a New American Standard and never read it because it was so hard to understand. Later I got a New Living and was able to work through the whole of Scripture. Now I use a English Standard, which I preach out of. But get your own physical copy. Start reading it and marking it up with questions and comments.
Next, you have to be connected to a local body of believers. You need a physical place to go. Infants cannot be left unattended, they need nurturing. When someone tells me they don’t need to be with a congregation at all, I can already see there’s a problem in their spiritual walk. We might get hurt by congregations and other Christians, and we might need time for healing, but we always need to return at some point. Growth happens with others, and if Jesus loves his Church, we need to learn to love it too, even with all its bumps and bruises.
Finally, the first obedient act that an infant believer needs to do, is get baptized. After Philip explained Jesus to the Ethiopian, they saw some water, and the Ethiopian asked to be baptized. Baptism is linked to infancy in the faith, if you haven’t been baptized, there is a deficiency there that is easily fixed. And if you need to be baptized, I’m willing to take you down to the river today to get that done. But if you can wait for a little warmer weather, we’re going to be baptizing on the 16th of February a lady who has been itching to get it done as soon as the weather warmed up.
Being an infant in the faith is nothing to be ashamed of. I remember when I was an infant and the newness of Christ’s life was overwhelming in such a fantastic way. So if you’re in that stage, be glad and enjoy learning new things about who God is and what he has done for you. But don’t stay in it. It’s a milestone in your spiritual journey, not the destination. There are greater things ahead as you grow into the person Christ saved you to be.
My challenge for you this week is, if you sat here and said, “that’s me, I’m an infant in my faith,” then praise God you see it. Of the four things from the passage and the three things we need as an infant, pick one to focus on this week. Maybe you need to get your own physical Bible or get baptized. Maybe you need to rest more assuredly on the goodness of God or you need to awaken to the spiritual war that surrounds you. Whatever that is, seek the Holy Spirit this week to accomplish that work in your life.
If you see that you’re past this stage in your relationship with God, then praise God. Take what you heard today and ask God to give you an opportunity to help an infant believer in one of the areas we discussed. Helping our fellow Christians is a way in which growth occurs and we show that we have moved beyond the infant stage.
Let us join ever greater together as Christ’s Church, that he would be glorified in his people. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment