Allen Jackson - Transforming Faith... Let's Grow (02/08/2026)
Pastor Allen, focused on "transforming faith," begins with a sobering analysis of a recent political election as a spiritual health check, comparing it to a troubling blood panel. Using 1 Samuel 17, the speaker emphasizes God's pattern of choosing the unlikely, like David, to accomplish His purposes. The core message is a call to spiritual maturity, moving beyond childish faith and worldly behavior to a life of obedience, responsibility, and growth, illustrated by the simple yet powerful disciplines of saying "please" and "thank you" as expressions of humility and gratitude toward God.
Transforming Faith: A Call to Grow Up
I'm going to pick up a new topic for two or three sessions, talking about transforming faith, with the goal of acknowledging our desire to grow. I want to know the Lord better. I tell you, it is so real inside of me. I don't imagine that I have accomplished or achieved or become. I have such an awareness that I need to grow in the way I know the Lord, in the way I understand Him, in the way I respond to Him, in the way I hear His voice. You know, I have a little bit of experience, and I've walked a ways, but I am a beginner. And I would invite you to that. Let's lay down the pretentiousness of our experience. We serve an infinite God. If we learn something new about God every day for a thousand years, we'll still have more to learn than what we have learned. I want to grow. And our faith is intended to be transformational, not just to get our way, but to transform us from the inside out.
I guess I'll take just a minute before I get into that with you. I want to borrow a paradigm from our own physical maturing. But we had an election; it was election week again, and that always seems to bring some discomfort or anxiety. I've said it over and over and over again, and I'll repeat it. To me, an election is a health check. When you go to the doctor for a physical, usually before he begins an evaluation, they'll draw blood and look at your blood panel and make some deductions about your general behavior. You're eating too much sugar; your cholesterol is too high; eat more vegetables. They give you a screening about how you're doing. The blood work doesn't make you healthier or less healthy. It's just an insight into how you've been behaving. Well, that's the way I understand elections.
Elections don't make us healthier or less healthy. They are a revelation of how we've been behaving. Isn't that awkward? And they don't fix our problems; they help us make course adjustments. A doctor's visit won't make you healthier unless you adjust your behavior based on the counsel you're given. And I think this week was very insightful. We have a 34-year-old Muslim socialist as mayor of the largest city in America, about a tenth of our economy represented by that. We have every right to do that and the freedom to do that, but that's a pretty strong statement about our spiritual health. Imagine if we'd elected a 34-year-old Pentecostal Christian. Imagine the discomfort that would be rippling across the country.
I would submit to you, just watching from a distance (and I didn't watch the campaign closely—there's too much to do; I'm much more interested in the power of our faith than the outcome of politics), we can't ignore the political arena and the promises that were made. Promises of things that were attractive to a large segment of the population. If you asked for my most candid evaluation (and you didn't, but I'll give it), the Book of Revelation describes a global leader that will emerge who will promise to fix all of our problems. He'll have solutions for the greatest problems that humanity has ever faced and will purport to have resolutions for all of them. And so we will surrender authority. And once he has secured authority over the nations, the scripture says he'll become the most beastly leader the world has ever known.
I'm not suggesting that the current mayor of New York is the antichrist by any stretch of the imagination. What I am suggesting is that the shadow of the spirit of antichrist fell more deeply over our nation because we had someone promising to solve all of our problems with no sacrifices. There would be no cost. Somebody else would have to sacrifice, but you won't sacrifice. We'll just fix your problems for you. That sounds very much like what's described in the Book of Revelation. It will grow more intense, more prevalent, more frequent. Islam is not peaceful. Any place in the world where it's the primary authority, it's not peaceful. And it's pretty universally dedicated to the destruction of this nation. And we invite that spirit into the largest city in our nation.
What Is Our Response to Cultural Shifts?
So what's the response to that? How do we think about that? What do we do about that? Well, the other half of that narrative in the Book of Revelation is the Spirit of God moving in the earth in such a way that, in the face of this great conflict between the Lamb and the beast, our Lord himself will come back on behalf of his church. Amen. So between where we are and there, the assignment is to preach the gospel in the whole world. Let's go. The quickest way to the return of the King is not to focus on the evil and the expressions of darkness and perversion and ungodliness. The shortest distance between here and there is to commit ourselves to the proclamation of the gospel in the whole world. Because Jesus said in Matthew 24, when we've completed that assignment, then the end will come. It's not dependent upon the wicked; it's dependent upon the church and our vibrancy and our vitality and our commitment to the assignment.
So yeah, it's a sobering analysis that we were given. The blood work that came back wasn't great. On the other hand, we know the assignment. So let's go. We're going to talk about transforming faith and how we grow. I'm going to use the analogy of our children and how we help them grow because I think the pattern of that is so familiar to us, whether you're currently parenting through that or you're a grandparent trying to disrupt the hard work of the parents. We're all familiar with that.
God Chooses the Unlikely: The Story of David
I started in 1 Samuel 17. David is the greatest of all of the Hebrew kings. But he first steps onto the stage of significance and prominence on the battlefield. David's a warrior. More than any of those kings of Israel, David was a warrior king. Solomon was born in the palace, born to the purple; he was anything but a warrior. David, on the other hand, is a warrior. And in 1 Samuel 17, it's the challenge with Goliath. It said the Philistine, with his shield bearer in front of him, kept coming closer to David. And he looked David over and saw that he was only a boy, ruddy and handsome, and he despised him. And he said, "Am I a dog that you come at me with sticks?" And he cursed David by his Philistine gods. Goliath was deeply offended that they sent a boy to face him on the battlefield.
God specializes in choosing the unlikely, the unprepared. He's the one who gets the glory. So when we talk about this desire to grow, it's not because we meet all the pedigrees of a blue-blood Christ follower. It isn't because we come from the right place or we've accomplished all the things. God's purposes are accomplished through our lives in spite of us. That's not an excuse for sloppiness, because it requires our willingness to serve the Lord. We have to present ourselves. I was in Israel a couple of weeks ago, and we went to the Elah Valley where this battle took place. I first visited that valley when I was in the sixth grade. The stream still runs through that valley.
There are the two ridges, mountain hilly ridges, where the Philistine and the Israelite armies were camped. And there's a valley between them and the brook that runs through it, from which David took the stones with which he took down Goliath. I was there as a sixth grader (don't be rude about how long ago that was), and we picked up rocks out of that creek. We were there a couple of weeks ago, and we're still picking rocks up. They have to haul rocks into that creek. I don't have another explanation, but God is still recruiting young people who are willing to serve him. It's so important. It's the story of Scripture that God recruits the unlikely.
How Did the Disciples Change?
The disciples, when Jesus recruited them, display a remarkable change from the time they're recruited until they're deployed on the front lines with the assignment. When Jesus recruits them along the shores of Galilee, they are unaware, they're unfamiliar, and they're uninvolved. They're not overly engaged with the purposes of God. I mean, they have the label of Judaism, and they know where the synagogue is, but they're not engaged with what God is doing. Sounds very familiar to me. But they become, over their interaction with Jesus, by the time we get to the opening chapters of the Book of Acts, determined, on assignment, resilient, and they won't be stopped. They're dramatically different characters than they were when Jesus said, "Follow me."
See, I have an objective. I want to become a dramatically different character because of my engagement with Jesus. I want the orientation of my life to be different, the passions of my life to be different, the things I think about, the things I talk about, the things I'm striving for, what I seek to become, my ambitions—I intend all of those to be transformed because of my affiliation with Jesus. Now that's not automatic. At least it isn't automatic in my life. And it's not automatic with some season of life. That won't get easier when you're older. If you're listening to this and you think, "Well, you know, if you get old enough, it's all you've got left," if you don't light the fuse on that when you're young, your powder will be too wet to get it lit when you're later in life. There's no season where that gets easier.
We have to say, "Lord, I will give you my best. I want to know you." It starts internally with an intent, a desire. The disciples are transformed. That's the invitation I'm going to give to you all through this weekend. Let's grow. Let's grow in the Lord. Stop reciting your spiritual curriculum vitae and say to the Lord, "I want to take the posture of a beginner. I want to grow." First Corinthians 13:11: Paul said, "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 childish ways behind me." Folks, it's time to put childish ways behind us. There's way too much childishness around our faith. I don't have to go very far into that. It doesn't take very long for us to understand it.
Too selfish, too carnal. We want our way. I mean, we laugh a bit about the simple expressions of that around church. We want to sit where we want to sit and park where we want to park and come when we want to attend. We get really sideways if we can't. "Why can't I bring coffee into this room?" Stop. It's the house of the Lord. First Peter 2:2: "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good." Crave—that's a strong word. Crave pure spiritual milk. I don't know that we have a craving for the things of God, the Word of God. We have a tolerance for it. It's okay with us. I mean, can you fit it into the timeline? But crave it. And he said so that we can grow up. We've got to grow up in the Lord, folks.
The Danger of Spiritual Immaturity
The language that we use is troubling to me. We go, "Well, you know, that's just not how my people are," or, "The church I went to, you know, we didn't talk about that." You got a Bible. Get it out. If you're sitting in a church that's denying the Bible, you need a new one. You see, I don't believe that excuse will be adequate. When we see the Lord and He says, "Well, I wrote an assignment for you. I had something for you to do," and we say, "Oh, well, the church I went to, we didn't read that part," you think the Lord's going to say, "Well, in that case, come right in"? We have to grow up in the Lord. "Well, I've grown a lot." I know. I'm still working on it.
Ephesians 4:14: "Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming." You know, deceitful scheming is a part of being the people of faith. The enemy schemes against you. If he can't convince you to deny your faith and to participate in ungodliness, he'll just do his best to deceive you, to manipulate you, to limit you, to hinder you, to impede you, to discourage you, to disrupt you. Don't welcome discouragement. Don't tolerate it. "I have reasons to be discouraged." You may, but don't accept them. "I have reasons to be tired." Okay. But we also have a resource to help renew us and refresh us. Don't yield to that. There's a battle raging in the earth.
"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ." In every aspect of our life, we've got to grow up in him. How we use our time, how we use our treasure, what we think about, what we imagine for recreation—in every way we have to grow up. What part of your life are you reluctant to invite the Lord into? And I don't mean you've banned him from it, but you don't really want to; you don't want to really consider a godly response because it's what you want to do. "Look, I'm born again. I'm not committing gross sins. I just want to do this. Well, I don't think it's evil." But I think it can limit God's call on your life. You will forfeit. And I would ask you not to do that. In all things, let's grow up in him.
Does Age Equal Spiritual Maturity?
I think we have to acknowledge that age, chronological age, does not equal spiritual maturity. I think the real criteria for that is the willingness to accept responsibility in spiritual things. I've found that the Spirit of God will give you an opportunity to mature and give you mature assignments if you'll accept responsibility. That requires two things, in my thinking: intent—the willingness, the intentionality around it—and sacrifice. If you're willing to do that, God will give you mature assignments that aren't connected to your age. See King David. See King Josiah. See the disciples that Jesus recruited; they were teenagers. See Mary and Joseph. I mean, the list goes on and on. In fact, it's highly improbable that there's an assignment coming later in your life if you haven't sought the Lord when you were younger.
I didn't say you couldn't be a part of the purposes of God. Zechariah and Elizabeth: God met them in a seasoned, senior season of their life, but he was responding to prayers they had been praying for decades. There were parts of the promise that God made to Abraham that weren't fulfilled until he was an old man. But Abraham responded to God when he was a young man. Whatever responses to God you've made early in your life, get those back out. Build upon those. Revisit them. Recapture the zeal of that. If you're a young person and you've got an awareness of God, thank him for that. I understand there's temptations. There's a learning curve that comes with maturing, whether it's physically, academically, or spiritually. There's a learning curve. And I'm going to borrow the one that we watch most often.
Baby Steps: The Power of Please and Thank You
When I watch parents with their children, it seems like there's an enormous amount of energy that begins in helping their kids be polite. Because when you take them out in public, you don't want little hellions. You know, I interact with the kids at church quite a bit. And sometimes I feel badly because I'll get down on a knee and say, "Hi, you know, I'm Pastor Allen. What's your name?" And the kids freeze. Nine out of ten, some of them go hide behind their parents. And then their parents start rehearsing what they've been coaching them on. You know, if it's a little fellow and he's old enough, you know, and I shake his hand, "Look him in the eye, you know, and tell him your name." And I'm, "Oh, geez, I put the poor child on." You know, it's like the bright, hot lights have been turned on them. And they kind of recite what mom and dad have been drilling into them. Or you give them something: "Say thank you."
Well, this notion of being polite. You know, what I hear the parents coach on the most, or what I remember the most, is "please" and "thank you." "Okay, I want a drink of water." "Well, how do you say that?" "I want a drink of water." I wasn't the brightest bulb in the box. "Can you not say please?" Apparently not, which was the wrong answer. But it's... And then after you've gotten your glass, "What do you say?" "I don't want any more water." I don't know. I mean, it just wasn't intuitive to me. "You say thank you." All right, anybody here coach anybody on saying... Anybody ever here get coached up on saying please and thank you? Well, I did a little work on that because I have such memories. I have marks around all of that.
The word "please," in the usage we're talking about, is an adverb. And the dictionary says it's a function word used to express politeness. And I thought, "Wow." It seemed more important than that in my life. And I lived with it a bit, and I thought, you know, being polite has really emerged into something that is almost ridiculed. It seems to me, maybe it's my perception, that to make an effort in being polite is almost like an expression of weakness. And I don't accept that. So I worked on it a little more. I don't think being polite is highly valued any longer. Or we're told it's insincere. Well, then change your attitude. But I would submit to you that politeness is important. It builds trust. It strengthens relationships. It improves communication, personally and professionally. It fosters a positive environment. It reduces conflict. It enhances self-confidence. It does a lot of things.
I found some insights that were pretty interesting. There are personal and social benefits to being polite. It builds better relationships by showing respect and consideration for others. Gee, wouldn't that be nice? I was on a flight recently that was delayed more than an hour after we had already been delayed about 14 hours. And we re-boarded the plane. It's time to take off. And we wait more than an hour because two people are fighting. The captain has to come from the cockpit. We have become so coarse, we can barely travel in public together any longer. Politeness enhances your self-image. Just practicing good manners can boost your self-confidence and help you grow. So who defined good manners? Well, not you. "Please" and "thank you" did not start with me. It got imprinted on my little self.
Being polite reduces stress. It minimizes conflicts and confrontations, which contributes to your well-being. You don't have to be confrontational all the time. It makes society better. We said we're trying to shape culture. We don't always just shape it by preaching. Sometimes we shape it by being polite. "Thank you." "Please." See, this is within your repertoire if we intend it. Etiquette and politeness are essential for community well-being. They promote civility. They build a shared sense of unity and cooperation. And this isn't just the South. I know it can be insincere, but it doesn't mean you have to be. We've introduced a whole language around mission opportunity with "Let's pray" that really extends from listening to people with a genuine concern for who they are. I would submit to you, it's being spiritually polite. You care about the spiritual condition of the people around you. It isn't just you. It isn't just your family.
What Are the Benefits of Being Polite?
Professional benefits from being polite: it fosters cooperation. It's crucial for teamwork, for building trust, for promoting cooperation amongst colleagues. I'm tired of liars. I'm tired of deceivers and people obsessed with selfish motivation. And they go, "Well, you would know." It improves our communication with one another. It prevents misunderstandings. It allows for greater respect and constructive dialogue. It creates opportunities. Being polite can make a better first impression, which really does matter. It'll increase your influence. People are far more likely to listen to your ideas and take you seriously if you're polite. So how do you practice this? It's not complicated. You show appreciation. "Thank you" can have a very significant impact on people. Use respectful language. Choose your words and your tone of voice carefully, especially when you don't agree. Don't make people feel small. That's the cheapest possible way to make yourself feel larger.
Be mindful of others. Politeness really involves being aware of how others feel and giving some consideration to their feelings. It doesn't mean you have to yield to everybody else's feelings. You're not giving up your own self. But you listen and you care about others. "Please." This isn't just a word for children. It really isn't. Matthew 26:39: This is Jesus in Gethsemane. He goes further. He falls with his face to the ground. And he said, "Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. I don't want to do this." It's not implicit in the language, but very much implied is "please." God won't always say, "Well, since you said please." Jesus said, "Not my will be done, but yours." But to the degree that I get to vote, I would rather not do that. He didn't say, "I'm not doing this. Stupid idea. Cross is dumb." See, polite isn't passive. We think polite means capitulate. I think something very different. But I'm kind to someone who's unkind. I'm not capitulating. I'm making a declaration that I'm going to overcome that evil with good. Doesn't mean I'll get back in line for repeated abuse. But I don't always, you don't have to give in.
Mark chapter five: They came to Jesus for help. They said, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him. He didn't say, "I have a right to your prayers. I'm a synagogue leader. I'm a powerful person." He said, "Oh, please come help me." Do we approach the Lord with that kind of humility? See, "please" is about yielding to authority, an expression of humility. Politeness, which has fallen into disrepute, is seen as insincere or false. It's assumed that we're all dedicated to ourself alone. I won't accept that. And neither should you. "Thank you." It's a powerful little phrase. It unlocks so many spiritual things for you. There's a spiritual authority in gratitude.
The Spiritual Power of Gratitude
Psalm 100, one of the most familiar psalms in the Bible, says we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. That we gain access to almighty God by being thankful. "So you don't know the problems I've got." No, but I could share a few. I certainly have access to a list of problems. I choose to be thankful. See, thankfulness is not connected to your circumstances, because if you're an ingrate, your circumstances will never be abundant enough for you to be thankful. You can be thankful with nothing. You can be thankful in the depths of despair. Thankfulness is not connected to your circumstances or your outcomes or your momentum or how people perceive you. Thankfulness begins in your heart. It's a choice that I will give thanks to the Lord. The Bible gives us some very stark representations. What's the opposite of being thankful? It's not a trick question.
I mean, you can plug "un" in front of it. Well, you can be unthankful. That's not wrong. Unthankful, ungrateful, ingratitude, ingrate—all of those would be antonyms for being thankful. The opposite of. There's a couple of passages that you think, "Well, that's not so significant." I disagree. The Bible says it's very significant. Second Timothy three. Some of you remember the passage. It's a description of the end of the age. It says there will be terrible times in the last days. The literal translation is "exceedingly fierce." And then there's 18 attributes of the human character that will be deteriorating. Not of politics. Not of wars. Not of diseases and epidemics and pandemics. What will make times terrible, exceedingly fierce, is the deterioration of human character. When the church is called to be salt and light, we're to dispel the darkness and to be a preservative, to withstand the corruption.
So the exceedingly fierce times will come because of the capitulation, the weakening of the church. But there's 18 characteristics listed. I didn't give them all to you, but people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents. So far, we could put that list into current culture and we wouldn't really call it bad. "Well, they just have a healthy self-image. They're driven to achieve. They're confident." And then it says they are ungrateful and unholy. Ungrateful is without gratitude. Unholy is without holiness. See, it's not a small thing to be ungrateful. Ungrateful. And I'm telling you, it is an epidemic amongst the people of faith. We want to do what we want, when we want, the way we want. And if we can't, we're ungrateful. "I don't like it."
Romans chapter one says it perhaps more bluntly. Romans chapter one presents a description of the deterioration of human character. It's a downward progression through layers of choices, ultimately ending in perversion and immorality and God abandoning us to our own carnal choices. But that downward slide begins in chapter one with verse 21, which says, "Although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God..." We know there's a God. The Bible says that every human being knows there's a God, that it's revealed in his creation, that every person has an instinct that there's a God. And Romans says that the trigger for this downward progression is that although we know there's a God, we refuse to glorify him or give thanks to him. And then it affects how we think. Our thinking becomes futile and our foolish hearts become darkened, and down we go.
Giving thanks to God is a powerful expression against the spiritual forces of darkness in your life. When you're discouraged, disheartened, frightened, when you feel threatened, abandoned, alone, stop and begin to give thanks. If it's me and I'm where I can, I'll raise my hands. I want to give you thanks. I thank you that you called me out of darkness into the kingdom of your Son. I thank you that through the blood of Jesus, my sins have been forgiven. I thank you that you're a faithful God, a merciful God, a just God, a kind God. See, I got to turn my attention away from my circumstance and my feeling and what I want and what I imagined and my dream. And I say, "God, I'm going to give thanks to you." I have so much food to eat, there's too much of me. I mean, we're so blessed. Don't focus on the darkness. Yeah, we can talk about what's happening in the world. I think we have to stay aware. If you're hiding from what's happening and you're calling it gratitude and thankfulness, you're deceived. You're looking for an excuse not to engage. I wouldn't coach you on that. "Well, I don't ever want to say anything unkind." Jesus did. He looked at people and said, "You're a bunch of snakes, a bunch of whitewashed tombs, a bunch of hypocrites. You search over the whole world to make a disciple and you make them twice the child of hell that you are." Those are not compliments. Gratitude. Thank you. Please. They're game changers.
From Infant to Adult: The Path of Obedience
And then it seems to me, after you learn to say please and thank you and survive the trauma that comes with those baby steps, that life continues. And then those that are coaching you, if they're doing their job, begin to encourage you to be productive. You have to learn to walk. They're not going to bring food to you and change you for the rest of your life. You can't just cry when you're not getting your way, and it is an expression of your discomfort, and everybody come running. Church is way too full of crying Christians. Come on. Years ago—it's been a long time—one weekend we were talking about something similar to this, and we gave out candy pacifiers to everybody. I told them to take them to work, and I said the first time this week at work when you think they're not paying attention to you, just pop that pacifier in. It'll help your attitude adjustment. It'll be far... I didn't bring you pacifiers tonight. But learning to walk spiritually—not just saying we're born again, not just saying we got the DNA—we're living creatures spiritually.
Productivity, it seems to me, begins with obedience. We understand we're under authority. It isn't just God doing what I want him to do; that I'm under his authority, that my assignment is to be obedient to him. When I understand it and when I don't. When I like it and when I don't. Obedience isn't always about my understanding. And then it leads to maturing. And maturing, both physically, emotionally, and spiritually, is connected to being responsible. Maturing is not knowledge. You can have access to lots of information. If information makes you mature, my computer, connected to the Internet with access to AI, is the most mature thing in the building. But real maturity is reflected in your willingness to be responsible: morally, spiritually, accountable. For what may you be held accountable? Obedience. Look at Jeremiah 1. We're reading Jeremiah together right now. God is laying Jeremiah's assignment out before him. He's young. And he said, "Lord, I don't know how to speak. I'm only a child." And the Lord said, "Don't say that." Wow. It's a little harsh. "Don't say, 'I'm only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you."
Well, wait a minute. "Don't be afraid of them. I'll rescue you." Well, you wouldn't have to rescue me if there wasn't going to be a problem. If there was going to be a parade and a party, I wouldn't need rescuing. And if you're sending me into circumstances where I'm going to need rescued, maybe being a little anxious about it is appropriate. And God says, "No, you don't need to be anxious. You need to be obedient." Well, how obedient do we have to be? We're not under law anymore; we're under grace. That always intrigues me. The New Testament says that Jesus was the end of the law as a means of righteousness—that our status with God is not linked to us keeping the law. But it doesn't say that it was the end of the law. There's not a period there. I mean, the law grounded in the Ten Commandments: Do you think when we get to the New Testament, "Thou shalt commit adultery"? "Thou shalt steal"? "Thou shalt have other gods before me"? "Thou shalt take the name of the Lord in vain"? "Thou shalt not keep the Sabbath"? Do you think they all got reversed? I don't think so. The holiness of God, the character of God haven't changed. We're called to be obedient.
What Does It Mean to Learn Obedience?
Hebrews 5:8 says of Jesus, "Although he was a son, he learned obedience." He learned obedience. Did you ever... Jesus learned to be obedient? He'd never been in an earth suit before. He didn't have all the frailties that came with that: the limits of our strength, the emotions, the weariness. There were many things he experienced that had not been a part of his journey. The Bible says he humbled himself and became one of us. He laid aside the glory of heaven for the incarnation, for all the vagaries and the frailties that come with the human condition. And it says he learned to be obedient from that position. If Jesus had to learn obedience, may I submit that you and I have to learn it. Amen. You can't just sweep it and say, "Well, you know, I didn't want to do that." Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Stop. Time out. What did God want you to do? "Well, I have responsibilities." Oh, you have responsibilities that trump God's? "Well, if I'd have stood up, if I'd have been an advocate for Jesus, there might've been consequences." Oh, the Apostle Paul will understand that completely.
See, maturing means we become responsible for our lives. We move beyond expecting others to be responsible for us, to make our lives easier or better or more convenient or more comfortable. And we decide we'll become the responsible participants. In 1 Corinthians 3, he says, "Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual." He's writing to a church; he's not writing to pagans. "I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? For when one says, 'I follow Paul,' and another, 'I follow Apollos,' are you not mere men?" They're arguing about who their favorite podcaster is. He's not denying the fact that they're born again. He's not denying the spiritual reality of their conversion. He said, you are deeply immersed in this present world order. You act like pagans. So I can't give you real truth. I can't trust you with real responsibilities. We don't give four-year-olds significant responsibilities. We don't give them car keys. We don't even give them scissors. So I don't think it's real surprising that we have trouble cutting through the darkness of our age when we haven't grown up enough that we can be trusted with scissors. You couldn't have a sword.
Unless we grow up in the Lord. Unless we're willing to be obedient. Paul is making the association between young in faith, immature, and being worldly. I would rather be spiritual-wise than world-wise. Hebrews 5, very similar. He says, "We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn." He just said you're in the slow group. "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers..." Teachers—this is your fourth trip through the sixth grade. "...you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature." Well, how do you mature? "Who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
Why are we coached? "We need a mentor." Why is that a more prevalent line than a willingness to show the people you're mentoring? You know the fastest way to grow? Help somebody else. But the model that we've lived under for my journey through Christendom for decades is, "You know, you need a mentor, somebody to mentor you." No, no, you start helping other people. You watch yourself grow. I mean, as boring as my sermons are to you, I learn more preparing them than you do listening every week. Because I have to actually prepare. I know it doesn't always show, but I really do. And if you want to grow spiritually, you start helping some other people. "Well, I invited four people and nobody came." There's a clue. Either your discernment on who to ask wasn't great, or the outcome the last time they tried wasn't good, and you got to change the bait. I love you. We're called to be salt and light to make a difference in our world. And we've been so focused—we've been invited to be so focused on our conversion experience and the memories around it.
Embracing the Cost: Adulting in Faith
A big part of maturing is delaying gratification. It means we just don't cry when we're hungry and throw a fit when we're unhappy. It seems to me that it requires a new valuation in your life, a new way to evaluate what's happening. The phrase that I see occasionally these days is "adulting." It's like a verb. And I see people who are chronologically old enough to be adulting, and they go, "I don't want to adult." Well, I feel that way spiritually sometimes, don't you? I have a friend who was in a worship service one time, a very gifted vocalist, and the person leading worship said, "If you don't worship the Lord, the rocks will cry out." My friend sat down and said, "Rocks, take over." I think we all feel that way sometimes. I'm tired. I don't want to do it anymore. I don't want to think about it anymore. I don't want to engage anymore. I don't want to take a stand anymore. I don't want to put on the armor anymore. I don't want to adult. I don't want to go to work.
There's been some commercials from time to time that'll take advantage of this, you know, that some parent coming into their child and say, "I'm taking a personal day." Doesn't work like that, does it? I grew up with animals. You got to feed the animals, whether you feel like it or you don't, whether it's sunny or rainy or hot or cold. And I don't ever remember one of them saying, "Thank you." Like every time I watered and fed a horse, they just made a bigger mess in the stall. I thought it was very ungrateful of them. Acts 5: The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus. Disgraced. They suffered physically, but they had been... Disgrace is a fall from grace. They were less welcome. They weren't appreciated. They'd been put on the scoundrels list. Are you willing to suffer disgrace for the name of Christ? Or are you trying to manage your Christianity so that disgrace isn't a part of the story?
Do you know how to turn the volume up and turn the volume down? Do you have a face for this group and a face for that group? They left rejoicing that they were worthy. Not everybody's worthy to suffer disgrace for Jesus. If you're given an opportunity, it's an expression of honor. Seize it. It's a change of how we think. It's a more mature attitude. In Philippians 3, Paul says, "Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ." He said, "I had some things on my resume that were pretty outstanding. I studied in the right schools. I was the most likely to succeed. I was doing a lot of stuff, but it's nothing to me now. I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." What are you putting in front of it? Profession? Career? Approval? Are you hiding behind your kids? Your grandkids? It's time to grow up in the Lord. We need grown-up outcomes.
Colossians 3 gives us the path: "Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature." That old carnal, selfish nature that says, "I want," and "I think," and "I feel." He says, put it to death. It leads to sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed. Put it to death. We're all subject to those things. We're all tempted with it. Every one of us. Put it to death. Well, that's not easy. No kidding. It's easier just to cry until somebody feeds you and scream until they change you. It's easier to let somebody else do the adulting. Adulting is inconvenient because it means you take your desires and your wants and you subjugate them to other things. I'm not asking you to deny your legitimate needs. I'm telling you, the messaging is out of balance. And the church is too worldly. We're too far in the world with too little of the fear of God. Let's be the change agents. Let's decide to grow.
Communion: The Tangible Call to Obedience
I want to close with communion. I think it's appropriate. When you came into whichever sanctuary you are on campus, you should have received the elements. If you failed to do that, I believe there's some ushers that will share with you. If you're at home, you got a half a beat to go grab a glass of water and a rich cracker. I met somebody the other day that said they had a little olive wood cup and they keep juice and bread ready when they join service. Good for them. But it seemed appropriate to me because communion is our tangible expression of Jesus' sacrifice for us. There was nothing pleasant about the cross. There was nothing affirming in being rejected in the city of Jerusalem. There was nothing pleasant or pleasing in being beaten so severely he's barely recognizable as human. There was nothing affirming in having your closest friends deny they know you because they're afraid. I mean, there's nothing in the elements of communion that we think, "Oh, that was easy."
So when we receive it, I would submit to you, we shouldn't imagine that it's the pathway to easy. It's not the spiritual equivalent of the easy button. Yes, Jesus took our punishment that we might have his blessings. Yes, he exhausted the curse of sin that we might be made righteous. All of those things are true. But they're true to enable us to lead lives of holiness and righteousness and obedience to God. And if it was not easy for Jesus, it's probably not going to be easy for you and me. So people say, "I didn't know being a Christian was going to be difficult." Babies don't know life is going to be difficult either. They're not born with that innate awareness. It takes some maturity to recognize the journey is not simple. And it isn't bad news, folks. It's an invitation to significance for your life that will stretch into all eternity. There are tremendous rewards. We're going to work on it in the next session. But it isn't easy. Settle it. Establish it. There's a battle in the earth. But you can be triumphant.
So we come to the communion table with all the challenges of our lives. But we're not alone. Because the one we call Lord is triumphant. And it says he leads us in a triumphal procession. We're the evidence of his victory. Our lives are an expression of what Jesus accomplished through his broken body and his shed blood. We've been forgiven, justified, sanctified, delivered from this present evil age so that our lives can bear fruit for the eternal kingdom of Almighty God; that through us, God is expressing the fragrance of the victory in Christ. So we come to the communion table. I don't know what needs you've brought to service. But I'm telling you, through the blood of Jesus, there is victory. Don't give in. Don't give up. Receive what the Lord has for you. Jesus himself said, "This is my body, broken for you. As often as you eat this, do this in remembrance of me." Let's receive. And he took a cup and said, "This cup is a new covenant, sealed with my own blood. As often as you drink it, you proclaim my death until you see me again." Let's receive. Stand with us.
Father, thank you. I thank you that in your great mercy and love, you've called us out of darkness into the kingdom of your Son. That through Jesus' death and resurrection, you have made it possible that we might be made righteous. That our sins could be forgiven. That we could be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and welcomed into the kingdom of your Son. We praise you for that tonight. We thank you for it. That you are our life. You are our living hope. We bless your name. Nothing's hidden from you. You know the details of our lives, the challenges and the stress. We invite you into the midst of it. May your life be our life. Bring health to our mortal bodies. Peace to our minds. Hope to our souls. Strength where we're weary. Joy where there's been heaviness. We praise you tonight that in Jesus we are more than conquerors. That greater is the Spirit in us than the spirit in this world that opposes you. We praise you for it tonight, for your victory in the midst of your people. As we've received the bread and the cup, we receive your life and your triumph and your strength. In Jesus' name. Amen.