"A Work In Progress"

What comes to mind when you hear the word “immature?”  In Hebrew it is translated as:  not fully developed or unfinished

In Greek the translation is a little broader:  childish, babyish, infantile, juvenile, inexperienced, unsophisticated, and unworldly.   As we move into the message today let us think of spiritual immaturity as in Hebrew, Not fully developed or unfinished

Oct 22 2017 Matthew 22: 15-22

As I mentioned let us think of spiritual immaturity as translated in Hebrew 
meaning, not finished or not fully developed yet!  In other words " a work 
in progress" 

According to some theological writers, one of the sign of spiritual immaturity is dualistic thinking.  In other words, seeing everything as either black or white, right or wrong, true or false, proper or improper.  The immaturity part of one’s spiritual life shows up when someone insists that their opinion, or their actions speak to the truth.      

Spiritual immaturity is a sign of not completely understanding or accepting the principals of God's kingdom.  Within the Kingdom of God, it is Jesus who holds the truth, knows the way and lives the life.  All others can only be a reflection of the one, therefor they cannot be the one. 
Folks I have to admit that I have often gone my own way in my thinking and doing, but I am not without a reminder, my wife is great at keeping me in check and yes I have to admit, I too am infected with this immaturity to some degree, hopefully not totally.   

A good example would be when I personally look at someone else and I consciously or unconsciously declare within my own mind that he or she is either sinner or saint.   The immature part here is, not heeding to one simple biblical principle found within the gospel of Matthew 7: 1-2,   “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.   A simple sound principal, yet so hard for our human nature to adhere to.

The biggest mistakes we make in personal judgement often happen because of a person’s outer physical appearance, their behavior, or their idiosyncrasies, preventing us from getting to know the person from the inside out.  This form of Spiritual immaturity helps us to hide behind our own idiosyncrasies?   Some might want to label immaturity as spiritual blindness which probably wouldn’t be too far from the mark.  I don’t know about you but Paul, in Romans 7: 14-20 rightly reads himself, when he said that even though he wants to do the good and right thing, he admittedly tells us that his human nature gets the best of him.   Here I believe Paul is talking about the unconsciousness factor of missing the mark as the Hebrew Scriptures call it.  Our curiosity gets us every time, doesn't it.   Something we all need to be aware of if we are to strengthen our Spiritual nature.   We truly need to understand that we too, haven’t gotten it all right yet either, that we are all too some degree an immature work in progress. 

The story in Matthew today is a classic example of the elite well educated, religious folk back in Jesus’ day who are really confused about who Jesus is and about some of his teachings.  They are judging Him with their own prejudices, and discrediting Him with their own man made laws.  The Pharisees who are trying to trap Jesus once again appear to be displaying what we might see today as spiritual immaturity or spiritual blindness.  Jesus taught some things about the Kingdom of God they would agree with like, God will judge and condemn evil doers. Yet Jesus befriended and was associated with people who were obvious doers of evil; murders, thieves, prostitutes, tax collectors, and adulterers.   The Pharisees could not understand that.  In fact many of us today still struggle with his teaching about loving the outsider, or praying for our enemies.  But, Jesus never just assumed from a person’s exterior or from the life that they were presently living that they were inherently bad or evil.  He was able to look inside the person to find the potential good that His Father had placed there in their conception and awaken it.  You see we were all meant for good, from our very beginning.  Genesis 50:20
We just need a drink of His living water to awaken the goodness within us too. John 4: 9-15.     

The teachers of the law were also uncertain about how to classify Jesus because He taught that obedience to God and the 10 commandments were to be adhered to, yet he continually broke the Jewish Laws and the Sabbath.  Allowing His disciples to eat with unclean hands on one occasion and then He heals a blind man on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees rejected Jesus because He was continually challenging their man made Jewish religious laws and rituals, those which allowed people to think they had become the righteous.  Did you know that there were 613 Jewish laws that they were required to adhere to, 613?   These laws gave them a false sense of security believing that they spoke to the truth and that their way, was the way of God.  Jesus upset the religious world they had created for themselves.   May I suggest that Christianity needs to examine itself folks, for we too have fallen into the trap of man made church rules, policies and rituals that do not honor the Lord Jesus either. 

They rejected Jesus because of what He said, who He associated with and how He acted.  It clashed with what they understood as good or bad, holy or unholy.  Now folks let us remember that if you cannot fit yourself into this gospel story, your learning will be impaired.  May I suggest that one of the most obvious lesson for us here today is this:  to grow in spirit “CHANGE” is required.    We have to stop looking through such a narrow lens and surrender our old ways of doing, living and responding to life, for the ways of Jesus.   Jesus’ way is that of radical hospitality, acceptance of all people and a non-judgemental attitude towards all.  Meaning He sought the child within the person, He was not concerned about their outward appearance.

The religious establishment of our time is no different from time of Jesus.  We today are often stuck in spiritual immaturity and blindness when it comes to the changes needed in order to grow personally.  There is an old saying and I am sure you know it:   “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” But when it is obviously broken why are we still ignoring it?  

Folks it takes faith and great courage to change.  Change requires vision.  With help and the sharing of our individual gifts, that is what will lead us into the future, both personally and as a church.  Isn’t that what life’s journey is all about?  Why then do we resist it?  Nothing is certain in this life accept this “things will change”.   We can either resist it or embrace it.   Jesus said “Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I will be”.   And where Jesus is, there is always hope for a new day.  Let us pray.