Man, Matthew chapter 11, the part that I want to focus on is beginning there in verse number
16 where the Bible reads,
But whereunto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children, sitting in the markets, and calling unto their fellows, and saying,
We have piped unto you, and you have not danced.
We have mourned unto you, and you have not lamented.
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold, a man gluttonous, and a
winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, but wisdom is justified of her children.
And tonight I want to preach a sermon entitled, A Generation of Children.
A generation of children.
He says, Whereunto shall I liken this generation?
It is like unto children.
And when he describes those children, the contrast is made at the end of verse 19 of
the children of wisdom.
And he says, Wisdom is justified of her children.
You see, one of the main characteristics of children is foolishness.
The Bible says, Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction
will drive it far from him.
Unseriousness.
You see, the picture that Jesus paints here is of people who are playing games and are
not wise people.
Now if you would, go over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 13.
One of the most famous chapters in the whole Bible is 1 Corinthians chapter number 13.
And look at verse number 11 of 1 Corinthians 13.
The Bible reads, When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought
as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Now there's nothing wrong with a child being childish.
And all of us were children.
And we all did and said silly things when we were children.
And there's nothing in the world wrong with kids being kids.
But there is something wrong when adults are acting like children.
Jesus is talking to adults, people that are supposed to be mature, intelligent people.
And he's saying, you know, where unto shall I liken this generation?
It's likened to children.
Now let me just go through with you tonight.
Some of the characteristics of children, according to the Bible, that we need to grow
out of as adults and as we become men and women.
Go to Titus chapter 2, first of all.
Titus chapter number 2.
One of the characteristics of children, which is okay in a small child, but we need to grow
out of as adults, is the characteristic of being unserious.
Not grave, not sober, but everything is a game, everything is a joke unto them.
Look if you would at Titus chapter 2 verse 4.
This is an admonition unto the young.
He speaks to the young women and he speaks to the young men.
And he says in verse 4 that they may teach the young women to be sober, to be serious,
to take things seriously, that it's not a game, that we're not playing around.
He says that they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love
their children, to be discreet, chaste keepers at home.
This is maturity in a woman.
He says good and obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed.
Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded.
I mean that's the one piece of advice for young men.
Be sober minded, get serious, realize that life's not a game and everything's not a joke.
He says in all things verse 7 showing thyself a pattern of good works, in doctrine showing
uncorruptness and then here's another word that's synonymous with being sober gravity
sincerity.
Sound speech that cannot be condemned that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed
having no evil thing to say unto you.
You see children are unserious but adults are supposed to be grave and sober and taking
life seriously.
Life is not a game.
Today in our generation where many adults act like children there are even adults who
spend huge amounts of time playing video games like a child, like a teenager would do.
Staying up real late with pizza and soda and a video game.
You know staying up till all hours of the night.
Being addicted to video games night after night and you know what I'm sorry but you
know your wife doesn't want you to be addicted to video games.
She's not impressed by that and honestly that's not what life's about and look it can be addictive
but we got to grow up and put away childish things and get serious about doing work for
the Lord.
He said look be sober minded and show a pattern of good works.
Going to work instead of playing games and fooling around all the time.
This is a time for recreation but recreation is just the icing on the cake of our lives.
The meat and potatoes of our lives as men is work that we do and we're to approach it
with seriousness and as if it matters and that we're doing something important.
Secondly go to Proverbs chapter 6.
Another characteristic of children is that they are irresponsible and therefore they
must be supervised.
Now when it comes to giving work for children to do and you know obviously the smaller the
children the more supervision they need and then the older they get you can give them
less supervision because they're starting to grow up and be mature but one saying that
I often say is you don't get what you expect you get what you inspect meaning that you
can't just trust young children to be sent off to go do a job and then just assume that
it's done.
And inspect their work because otherwise you have no idea what's happening and often
in five minutes in ten minutes in all work goes aside and it just becomes a playtime.
Look that is something that children lack in and they need to be disciplined and taught
and raised to be a good worker.
Look what the Bible says in Proverbs 6 verse 6 it says go to the ant thou sluggard.
A sluggard is a name for a lazy person.
Go to the ant thou sluggard consider her ways and be wise which having no guide notice that
no guide no overseer no ruler provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food
in the harvest.
How long wilt thou sleep O sluggard when wilt thou rise out of thy sleep yet a little sleep
a little slumber a little folding of the hands to sleep so shall thy poverty come as one
that travelth and thy want as an armed man.
We as adults we as men if we're going to be grown ups need to be a self motivated self
starting person that doesn't need a guide or an overseer to always make us work and
make us get something done and be constantly cracking the whip but that rather we would
take initiative and work hard.
This is what separates the men from the boys.
Children need to be supervised and they're irresponsible.
Men and women as they become adult become responsible take initiative get things done
on their own.
They don't have to be told every single day hey do this chore.
They just do it because they understand that it's a responsibility that they have and kids
I hope you're listening to this sermon.
I hope that you're not offended by the sermon children because I'm not trying to offend
you because it's okay to start out as a child everybody starts out as a child but you know
what you need to be listening to this sermon and understanding the virtue of growing up.
You see the Bible does not teach that it is a virtue to stay a child as long as you can.
No the Bible teaches that children should strive to grow up and be mature and take responsibility
you know impress your parents and show your parents you know that you're going to prove
Pastor Anderson wrong and you're going to be serious and you're going to get things
done on your own.
But the journey to adulthood is a gradual journey it's not like you're just going to
be a child and playing and fooling around and goofing off and then all of a sudden some
switch is going to switch when you're 18 and all of a sudden you're just going to be responsible
and you're going to be able to provide for yourself and your family and it's funny to
listen to kids talk and I was the same way when I was a kid.
We all were but you listen to kids talk it's like oh yeah you know I'm going to have this
huge house and I'm going to have this car and you know they just talk about all the
the wealth that they're going to have and all the things that they're going to do and
the traveling and you know but they don't realize that those things are hard to achieve
and they're not going to be doing any of those things unless they get serious about being
a mature person and a good worker and it doesn't happen overnight you've got to start developing
the habits now young children and the Bible says even a child is known by his doings whether
his work be pure and whether it be right so an attribute of a very young child is that
they're irresponsible and need to be supervised as they get older as they get more mature
they can be given a little bit more leeway and and and given more responsibility because
you can trust them with it and obviously it's a lot more enjoyable to do work when you don't
have somebody standing over you I mean none of us as adult men like to work with somebody
standing over us and watching us but you earn the right to go out and work on your
own and do your own thing by producing results without having a guide or an overseer breathing
down your neck and children you don't want mom and dad breathing down your neck be responsible
get things done make things happen show them how mature you are by doing the things that
the Bible teaches here now thirdly this children are ignorant they lack knowledge not to say
that they're stupid in the sense that they can't learn but rather just because they're
young they haven't learned things yet so they're very ignorant and they lack in knowledge the
Bible says in first Corinthians 14 verse 20 brethren be not children in understanding
albeit in malice be children but in understanding be men so he says in understanding be men
don't be a child in understanding he says you know in malice be children you know we
don't need to be experts and have all the knowledge of all the wicked things of this
world but we do want to understand the wisdom of God and we don't want to be a child see
it's okay for children to be ignorant because they're young they haven't learned yet but
when adults are ignorant that's a problem and that's why God is commanding you be not
children in understanding grow up gain knowledge but number four children are gullible and
foolish now if you would are you in Proverbs go to Proverbs chapter number 10 verse 23
and while you're turning there I'll quote again the verse that I quoted earlier foolishness
is bound in the heart of a child but the rod of correction shall drive it far from
him so children are foolish they do silly things that don't make sense and sometimes
you're just shocked and looking at them like what have you done why did you do this where
did this crazy idea come into your head to do something so foolish and another aspect
of foolishness is just that they're just so easily deceived and easily misled you know
this is part of the danger of just leaving small children unsupervised or just you know
sending them off to school or sending them off wherever because who knows who is going
to take them aside and deceive them and mislead them and children are gullible and they fall
for things that's why parents have to tell their children you know first of all in today's
world the perilous times in which we live you just need to watch your kids and not just
send them off anywhere when they're little kids because there's so much wickedness out
there and there are so many predators out there but you know I remember my parents having
all these talks with me when I was a little kid saying to me look you know if a stranger
pulls up and says get in the car you know you don't and they said a stranger might come
to you when you're walking out of school and say hey you know your parents have been in
an accident and I've been sent here to pick you up I'm going to take you to the hospital
where your parents are don't get in that car you know they told me that these are the kind
of tricks and schemes that people will use to deceive you and they would warn you because
children are gullible they're very believing just oh okay yeah let's go and they'll fall
for it they're not always scared of you know the danger that's real you know I remember
when I was a little kid I was a really small little toddler and I was at the department
store with my parents and no I don't remember this story because it was before I can remember
but it was the story that was told to me about me when I was a toddler but I guess
there was this lady that was saying you know oh you know you're so cute you're such a cute
little boy you know I want to take you home with me you know how the people will say things
like that so then basically you know for some reason I start when we left I started crying
and saying no I wanted to go with her you know she's going to take me home you know
I want to go there you know so this is the stupidity of a child that says yeah let's
go strangers no problem you know I you don't know the dangers that lurk out there so children
are gullible they're foolish they don't make proper decisions look and sometimes sometimes
my wife will be really shaking her head and and just kind of face palming about a childlike
behavior of one of our young children and I'll tell her I'll say look honey there's
no child that age that lives on their own none and and there's and the reason why is
because they all do stuff like this you know I'm trying to tell her it's not just our kids
you know it's just kids don't make decisions that are responsible because if so you'd see
all kinds of 10 year olds and 11 year olds and 12 year olds you know just living on their
own working paying their bills driving cars but there's a reason why they're not that's
the reason why that none of them are doing that and it's because of the fact that children
are foolish and gullible and irresponsible but that's okay you know for a real young
child but that's something you need to strive to get over and get some smarts and get wisdom
but here's the thing when an adult is foolish and gullible and ignorant that's when it becomes
a problem you see the Bible talks about well we'll go if you would to actually go to Ephesians
4 in the New Testament Ephesians chapter 4 because the Bible talks about this kind
of foolishness and gullibility issue but another thing about children is that very young children
are not able to feed themselves someone else has to feed them and when a baby's born obviously
it's completely reliant upon its mother to feed that child and that's why the Bible talks
about those that are as children in the Lord that they are using milk as a babe but that
those who are a full age use strong meat and the difference between milk and strong meat
is that milk is something that's fed to you by your mother you know it's brought right
to you whereas strong meat is something that you feed yourself as you get older and that's
part of the difference between a child and an adult an adult feeds themselves and a child
is spoon fed all that it eats even after it's done being breast fed it's spoon fed
the meal so it's okay for a toddler to be sitting in the high chair and being spoon
fed that's what we would expect right but can you imagine a grown man sitting in a high
chair just picture this in your mind a grown man strapped into a high chair and being spoon
fed and there's applesauce and sweet potatoes you know what is it with sweet potatoes it
seems like the most sweet potatoes we consume in our lives is in like the first two years
of life you know eat a lot of sweet potatoes and then you don't really eat them that much
for the rest of your life but you know just applesauce and sweet potato all over and we're
sitting there in a bib and and your wife's feeding you your wife is spooning food into
your mouth as a grown man can you imagine the shame and embarrassment and humiliation
of that site but this is the site that would be seen spiritually if we were to look with
spiritual eyes at some people who don't read the bible on their own as a christian they've
been saved for 10 years they're not reading the bible on their own they've never even
read it cover to cover one time and and and there are even men who rely on their wife
to feed them spiritually and well my wife is a lot more religious so she knows the bible
a lot more shame on you right being spoon fed by your wife you know you need to man
up and lead and pass her up in knowledge and and be a leader in that home and and grow
now what does the bible say in ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 and he gave some apostles and some
prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers for the perfecting of the saints
for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in
the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man under
the measure of the stature of the fullness of christ that we henceforth be no more children
tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and
cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive but speaking the truth in love
may grow up into him in all things which is the head even christ what's the bible saying
here don't be a child don't be a baby he's saying grow up why because there are plenty
of people out there to deceive you and trick you and fool you and especially today with
the internet there's so many hoaxes and so much fraud and so much false information you
got to grow up and and part of the reason why you have a pastor and a teacher is so
that you can grow up that's what the bible says he gave them pastors and teachers to
perfect the saints till we all come in the unity of the faith that we be henceforth no
more children you know the pastor and the teachers of the church are there to guide
you and say look here's some good knowledge here's some good information here's biblical
teaching that you can sink your teeth into and understand so that when that stupidity
on the internet comes up you'll be smart enough to realize hey this doesn't jive with scripture
this doesn't jive with reality you know because you've been taught to be smarter than that
and to not be foolish and gullible there is a false weirdo doctrine on the internet every
week some new thing that's being bantied about some new vain jangling foolishness nonsense
and some of it just is mind boggling that people could fall for but they do and some
of it is just so blatantly contrary to scripture and you're just thinking do these people know
any scripture but see the answer is they don't and so we need to grow up how do we grow up
well reading the bible is an important place to go to grow up because the bible says as
newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow thereby the milk of
the word is going to help you grow as a baby getting in the word studying the word but
also you have pastors and teachers too so going to church is going to help you grow
also you see you take a baby christian and turn them loose on the internet you know without
guidance and being taught the word of god and without reading the bible cover to cover
on their own like an adult feeding themselves through the word themselves you know you get
caught up in every wind of doctrine okay now sadly a lot of pastors are misleading their
flocks today a lot of teachers today are misleading the flock and and and so people
become disillusioned and they say you know well you know the churches are all bad they're
all for all the pastors no not all pastors are misleading you there are bad pastors out
there there are false prophets but that doesn't mean that we should just throw out the institution
of the local church throw out the preaching of god's word by pastors that are qualified
according to the bible and just reject it outright because there's just so many bad
pastors out there well you know what if there's so many bad pastors out there then maybe we
need you that are in the pew some of you to grow up and to take the responsibility of
becoming a pastor that's going to take a lot of spiritual maturity isn't it because one
of the qualifications for being a pastor is not a novice and being a novice is means of
being a beginner and of course there's nothing wrong with being a beginner we've all been
a beginner at one point in everything we've ever done but in order to be a pastor you
have to get past that beginner stage and get into the advanced level of things that's going
to take a lot of maturity and a lot of growth and so instead of just complaining that oh
the pastors are bad no get into a church where the pastor is right and teaching right be
trained and taught grow up become established in the faith and then go out and start a church
and establish god's institution in some other city a local church as he commands so we don't
want to be gullible and foolish we want to be skeptical of that which is bantied about
on the lips of anyone or on the internet and not to just be easily persuaded over to divers
and strange doctrines what does strange mean foreign it's some new doctrine now sometimes
something is new to us but it's not a new doctrine it's new to us and and we do need
to embrace that new teaching to us because maybe we've been wrong we've been in error
okay but it needs to be tested with the word of god and not to just be flippantly and casually
embraced and accepted as truth here's another thing let's say you watch a documentary you
should fact check everything that is presented in that documentary before believing it as
gospel truth before you're going to repeat it to other people and say oh yeah this is
the way it is fact check if you read a book and a book is making claims about what this
person said or what this person did or this is you should fact check because often i've
watched a documentary and it hit pause and fact checked and found it all to be adding
up you know or they're saying hey the bible says this you know hit pause look it up in
the bottom there it is but then other times i've read a book or seen a film and then when
i went to fact check it it turns out that some of the things being presented were outright
lies like they would even quote a book and say hey it's on page so and so and then you
go to that page and there's nothing there like that nowhere in the book is anything
found like that you know the gullible person believes every word the bible says the simple
believeth every word but a wise person is going to check things out and make sure that
things are the way that they seem instead of just blindly believing everything and look
tv is there to spoon feed us all what the devil wants us to believe but when we fact
check many of the things that are on tv or many of the things that are bantied about
we find them not to be true sometimes statistics are given that are misleading statistics but
when we fact check them and do the math and look at the real statistics they can tell
a completely different story and so we need to grow up and not be just easily swayed and
easily tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine but fifthly and
go to first corinthians chapter number three first corinthians chapter number three another
attribute of children that god tells us we want to stay away from as adults is strife
and envying strife and envying now when the bible talks about envying and strife i'll
explain to you what that means and i'll give you some examples of that but we don't want
to fall into the trap that some people teach that just all strife is wrong all contention
is wrong you know it's funny whenever you talk to the mormons and you try to show them
the false doctrine of mormonism this is what they'll often say to you and raise your hand
if you've heard this statement before talking to mormons contention is of the devil right
have you heard that yeah see all the hands around the building they'll say and it's somewhere
in one of their fraudulent books that was written by that that pedophile that they follow
joseph smith that false prophet that pervert brigham young joseph smith one of those two
guys writings you know it says that contentions of the devil well you know the bible says
were to earnestly contend for the faith so no contention itself is not of the devil and
what they do is oh we just don't want to argue we don't want we just want to talk about jesus
but here's the problem you have another jesus but they don't want to face that they want
to show up at your door on their little tricycles and they want to tell you that oh we believe
the same thing you guys believe and oh you know we don't want to talk about gods living
on other planets and the star base colob don't bring that up you know we want to just
talk about jesus and it sounds so good because we're the church of jesus christ of latter
days but the bible warns us that one would come preaching another jesus and the jesus
of mormonism is not the jesus of the bible you know the jesus of the bible is the one
true god that says i'm he there's none else beside me there is no savior before me there
was no god formed neither shall there be any god after me i'm the lord there's none
else but yet they say that there are billions of gods and it's so amazing how they just
lie to your face every time you talk to them look i'm i'm i'm not gonna shy away from telling
the truth tonight that if you talk to the mormons in mesa arizona they will lie to your
face and they know they're lying and they'll just lie to you and say we only believe that
there's one god and it's a lie and you can you can catch them in that lie a hundred times
and they'll just keep telling it it's a lie they believe in people living on other planets
with other gods and that is not christianity christianity teaches that there's one god
and that there are people living on this planet and no there are not aliens living on other
planets but that's what the mormons teach and every day you know i can i if i had a
nickel for every time i had a mormon tell me i don't know where you're getting that
from because i i you know and they they act like they don't know what you're talking about
i i mean i have no idea what you're talking about because we only believe that there's
one god and i have no clue where you you know you need to stop believing everything you
read on the internet and i remember i talked to this one guy and he just lied to my face
for over five minutes solid just telling me how there's only one god you know then i pull
out of my pocket i just happened to have with me because i knew i was going to a mormon
area the quote from brigham young where he talks about there being a multitude of gods
in in all different planets and i pull this out and i read it to him and i say what about
this quote from brigham young and i read him the quote and just like that he said well
what about all the bible verses that talk about multiple gods i'm like you just spent
five minutes telling me that you won't believe that there's one and now all of a sudden you're
like defending the fact that there are all these other gods out there but you know i'll
often say to them i'll often say to them you know go in your house and bring me the pearl
of great price and i'll have them bring me the pearl of great price and i'll flip it
open and show them where it says instead of as the bible says in the beginning god created
the heaven and the earth where it says in the beginning the gods created the heaven
and the earth and the gods said let there be light and there was light and the gods
saw the light it says like 20 times how the gods are multiple gods are creating the earth
and it also shown the part where it talks about there being a great council of the gods
where the gods held this council and they decide about the plan of salvation and all
these different things and you know that cartoon that the band you know the the one that's
on youtube the the band mormon cartoon b a n n e d you know the mormon cartoon that's
been banned that that's how it's labeled on youtube look i fact checked all of the information
in that cartoon and all of it is true and i fact checked it with books that i bought
at a mormon bookstore i mean you can go to their own bookstore and get their own books
and fact check everything in that cartoon and i'm telling you that that cartoon is accurate
of what they believe it's it's all there now there are a couple things in the cartoon that
they don't believe anymore but you can go to brigham young's writings and see where
he said that that's what it was and where he believed it and they say he was a prophet
of god so a few of the things in the cartoon are throwbacks to the brigham young stage
which was the weirdest phase of mormonism where the really crazy doctrines were laid
out then they kind of relaxed some of the weirdest teachings but they they've still
kept most of the of the weird stuff but you know a multitude of gods multiple gods and
they go around and they deceive people who don't know and they don't want to contend
they don't want to strive they just want you to just believe them and and hey look at our
family values look at the haircut look at the white shirt look at the tie look at the
name tag you know i'm 18 years old i'm elder so and so you know anyway so you know they
just want you to believe and so many times i've even said to them i said to them what
about the song that you sing if you could hide to kolob because you know that cartoon
talks about this you know this other planet that they're from kolob where they used to
live and uh i basically you know one of the times when i was going through one of these
fruit inspections you know where they're like where are you coming from kolob you know just
tell i'm from the star base kolob you know give them the old leonard nimoy you know shakina
symbol but anyway they sit there and tell you you know oh i only believe in one god
and then i'm like what about that song have you ever sung that song if you could high
to kolob which is that other planet that they talk about and almost every single mormon
i've ever taught all the english-speaking mormons that i talked to when i brought up
that song they said yes we've all sung it you know one of the latinos hadn't heard of
it you know i don't know if it's been done into spanish yet but the english-speaking
mormons they do this song you know if you could high to kolob you know and it's all
and it talks about all these other gods living on kolob and they sing it in their church
but they're nope contentions of the devil we don't want to discuss it with you we don't
want to argue with you you know okay but here's the thing though there is a place for contention
you know where we need to stand up for things and stand up for the truth and stand our ground
and contend for the faith and so forth but what the bible is talking about here with
strife it's not talking about fighting the good fight okay it's not talking about you
know striving for the prize and striving for for great things or striving with someone
over that which is right what it's saying here it's coupled with envying okay now let's
look at the scripture first corinthians 3 1 it says and i brethren could not speak unto
you as unto spiritual but as unto carnal even as unto babes in christ so we're talking about
those who are children that are immature i have fed you with milk and not with meat for
hitherto you were not able to bear it neither are you yet neither yet now are you able for
ye are yet carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are you
not carnal and walk as men now again people will make the mistake of saying all divisions
bad well jesus christ said i'm come to bring division came to bring a sword i came to bring
division so there's a place for division but this kind of division is wrong this envying
strife and division he likens it unto children he says you are like carnal babes as opposed
to being spiritual adults and he's saying that uh basically they have anything in strife
think about children don't they fuss and fight with each other a lot i mean isn't that the
one thing that drives parents probably more nuts than anything is all the bickering and
fussing and fighting like cats and dogs so when the bible is likening it unto children
it's talking about envying and strife think about the statement that comes out of so many
children's mouths that's not fair that's what envy is envying is when you look at what somebody
else has or you look at their position or their privileges or what's being given them
and you wish that you had those same treats or those same privileges or that same snack
or you know why does she get to stay up and i don't get to stay up that's envying right
envying and strife you know and think about envying could also be of possessions you know
and children don't know how to get along with one another with people that they should be
getting along with they just fight and envy and strife you know for example one of them's
got a toy that the other one wants it's just and then you know he comes and takes it back
from me you know and then finally i just let go you know hits him in the face and you know
and how many times are kids fighting and calling each other names and just just bickering and
strife and it's not fair and why don't i get to go first and why is her piece bigger than
my piece and and you know look it's childish right and you expect adult people to kind
of put others first i mean think about it if you said to children hey everybody we're
going to line up and get cake and ice cream you know go line up over there what are kids
going to do just bolt over there and you know shove people out of the way getting them no
i was here first you know or hey you know i i get to ride shotgun i mean i can't count
how many times i've gone to the car and see like multiple kids jammed into the front seat
on each other's laps and you're like what are you doing i was here first no i was here
for those and they're all just jammed you know you got a giant 12 passenger van the
whole family's in the front passenger seat because they all called shotgun but here's
the thing if you hang around with adults it's the exact opposite you hang around with adults
and it's like hey why don't you ride up front no no it's okay i i'll sit in the back right
when you know oh hey cake and ice cream fellowship you know everybody's like hey go ahead here
go for it you know but isn't that the mature thing to do kind of be patient let other people
go first and you're not going to sit there and you know at a church activity as an adult
say you know why did he get two scoops on his ice cream cone and i only got one everybody
would look at you as a as a child you're being juvenile you're being silly right so he's
saying look adults don't live their lives with all this envying and strife and look
at what the divisions were about he says a little i got to turn there in my bible i was
just looking at my notes but he goes into what kind of divisions they had it wasn't
like they were dividing on the lines of you know people who believe the bible and people
who don't people who believe salvation is by faith and people who think it's by works
you know people who believe that there's one god and people who believe in a bunch of other
gods on other planets you know they weren't dividing along lines that mattered they're
dividing in verse four one sayeth i'm of paul and another i'm of apollos are you not
carnal and and honestly when people divide along these kind of lines of of worshiping
a personality cult that's carnal and childish and you know i think one of the biggest examples
of this is is with sports where people just get real fired up and real divided over sports
you know i mean either you're a fan of the chicago cubs or you're a fan of the chicago
white socks you know and it's just you know there's just two kinds of people in this world
you know you're either from the north side or the south side or whatever you know but
just just stupid divisions of just dividing along the lines of things that don't matter
sports you know or think about how kids segregate themselves in in junior high and high school
based on what what kind of music they listen to and it's just that's just these divisions
over dumb things like what kind of music you listen to and stuff like that whereas you
know the bible teaches that we should basically divide ourselves from the world wickedness
ungodly people separate ourselves from them and be joined together with god's people and
that should be the division not a division based on our music not a division based on
our our race or nationality you know where we're more loyal to that than we are to our
brothers and sisters in christ it doesn't make any sense we need to divide along proper
lines and in the church the goal is unity because if everybody's got the word of god
everybody's growing up everybody's learning you know everybody is doing what's right then
hopefully the more we grow the more we learn the more unity there's going to be because
if doctrine is being preached clearly you know the majority of the church are going
to believe the same things now obviously it's never going to be just a bunch of clones where
everybody has all the exact same doctrine and there are small minor issues that don't
even really frankly matter so there's no point in you know dividing or worrying about it
and i promise you that there are people in this church that disagree with me on a ton
of things you know you're not going to find people in this church necessarily that just
agree with every single thing i preach now look if somebody here agrees with every single
thing i preach there's nothing wrong with that it doesn't mean well you're not thinking
for yourself you need to find something to disagree with you need to find something you
know just to prove to us you know that you're thinking on your own no i mean you don't just
want to disagree for the sake of disagreeing but look you'll find people in the church
that don't all agree on this that and that's okay okay it doesn't really matter but there's
something wrong though when there's just all over the place on major doctrines you
know you go to a church and and you got the king james the niv the esv the hiv the new
american standard and you got all these different everybody's got a different version and you
ask one i mean you ask one person if salvation is eternal oh yeah you know you ask somebody
oh you can lose it you know i mean major doctrines major important issues and there's no unity
i mean something's wrong that tells me it's a church where doctrine's not being preached
and when you go to churches where no doctrine's being preached everybody believes something
different and then you go to a church where there's a lot of clear doctrinal teaching
you'll find that more people are going to be on the same page about more things that's
the purpose of pastors and teachers to bring us to unity where we look at the word of god
and we learn and we all get on the same page i mean think about when you talk to catholics
some of them are telling you it's reincarnation you're like i don't even think that's a catholic
doctrine you know that's like that's hinduism what are you talking about but i mean you'll
run into catholics that'll tell you it's reincarnation some catholics believe in purgatory some don't
you know just all different teachings and and doctrines all over the board when you
talk to some of these people just because they're not really learning that much in church
so they they kind of just develop their own views mix in a little catholicism and then
you know kind of just tell you hey this is what i believe so we want to be people who
are mature not having all this envy and strife now think about this what about in your marriage
how could this come into your marriage where you're being childish in your marriage envying
and strife well one big area is that men and women have different roles in marriage god
didn't design us to be co-equal 50 50 partners where we both make half the money we both
do half the housework we both have a vote and everything and we just keep we keep having
a tie and we don't know what to do because there's two of us and we keep voting and you
know i mean that doesn't make it how do you have two people vote on things it doesn't
make any sense right you gotta have one leader or at least an odd number i'm not i'm not
condoning polygamy tonight that's the mormons all right many gods many wives you know you
name it with them but the thing about it is that a lot of times envying in a marriage
is what leads to the strife where basically the woman wants to usurp the man's role or
the man wants to usurp the woman's role you say why would the man want to usurp the woman's
role oh staying home not going to work and there are men who want to stay home and not
go to work and it's not right is it for a man to just say i don't want to go to work
i want to just stay home i you know i it's too it's too hard out there you know i i'd
rather just stay home and just relax and let you go to work and there are husbands who
stay home and demand that their wife go to work it's out there friend and envying is
where the husband looks at the wife and says well you know must be nice staying home you
know and not understanding that staying home has its own challenges and then the wife you
know your the husband's thinking yeah it must be nice staying home and then the wife's thinking
like nice to stay at home i feel like the roof is coming down on me you know i want
to get out i want you you know it's easy for you to say because you're out driving around
all day i'm cooped up in this little house or this little apartment you're out driving
you're you're talking to all kinds of interesting people in your job all day you know i'm talking
to a two-year-old all day this is my only company it's the only person i have to keep
company with is a two-year-old you know you're you're meeting people you're doing all this
exciting stuff and you're driving around and stuff you know i need to get out more and
you're like i need to stay home more you know it must be nice just being able to take field
trips with the kids and you get to do everything and but you know but it's dumb on both sides
because you just need to understand that we just live different lives and the husband's
got his life and his role it has its own pros and cons i mean yeah we have to go to
work and you know work our fingers to the bone and have the stress and the and the labor
associated with that but we get a break from the house and we get a break from you know
maybe you know the kids being difficult and everything and we do get to get out and get
some fresh air and and stretch out a little bit you know and the wife has benefits of
staying at home you know less stress not having to go and deal with the job and the hassles
with that and gets to spend more quality time with the children and do fun things look
there are pros and cons to both and envying is what leads to some of the strife where
the husband wants the wife to be like him or wants to live her lifestyle or vice versa
instead of just everybody getting in their proper role and doing their job and being
who they're supposed to be and not trying to compare themselves you know a comparison
between husbands and wives just doesn't make any sense because you're comparing apples
to oranges and this this warped sense of fairness between the husband and wife it doesn't always
make sense because you're comparing apples to oranges different lifestyles there's different
you know so you don't want to have all this bitter envy and strife and just fussing and
childishness how do you overcome this you know by putting other people first by thinking
about other people and their needs envying is when you're looking at them say well that's
not fair why do I get you know whereas a godly attitude is saying you know what I'd rather
put them for I hope that their piece is a little bigger than mine but see that takes
maturity doesn't it little toddlers aren't thinking like you know what I wanted him to
have that toy I'm so glad he ripped that out of my hand because you know what he probably
needs it more than I do I have so many toys at home I wonder if he comes from a home of
a few toys man I'm glad you know it's so good to see him having so much fun with that
toy right now those thoughts don't enter his mind but see as an adult you know you might
think to yourself hey I want other people to have the bigger share I want them to sit
in the front seat I want to be humble that's a mature godly christ-like attitude that comes
with growing up okay what's what else go to uh Hebrews chapter number five Hebrews chapter
number five another attribute of children because what's the sermon about tonight well
because Christ said that there is a generation that was like unto children playing games
lacking wisdom not serious he talked about a generation that was like children and then
we saw where the apostle Paul said look when I was a child I spake as a child I understood
as a child I thought as a child but when I became a man I put away childish things and
we see all these admonitions to grow up to be no more children to be mature to grow in
grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ okay but what does that
mean to not be childish what is it to be childish well to be childish is to be unserious everything's
a game it's just play play play fun fun fun that is childish and we as Christians are
told grow out of that what else does it mean number two it means to be responsible it's
children that are irresponsible and have to be supervised and checked up on all the time
adults can just be left with a task and maybe even three or four days later you check in
with them and it's and and the machine has been going for three to four days without
you even having had to check at one time that's being mature what else does it mean to be
mature it means that you gain knowledge and remember knowledge is gained from reading
the Bible going to church listening to preaching and knowledge is gained from reading books
okay not watching TV it's gained predominantly from reading books serious study and knowledge
comes from books not from you know the learning channel or whatever what does it mean to be
an adult versus a child not to be gullible not to be stupid where people can just trick
you into believing all kinds of crazy goofball harebrained things and where you just believe
every word you know when when you're when you're older and wiser you start fact checking
things you start seeing if things add up before you just blindly jump on the latest trendy
doctrinal bandwagon okay what else does it mean to grow up it means that you're not striving
and fussing and envying about dumb things and dividing based on dumb things where you
get this tribal mentality where it's just like you know it's all about the sports team
that you're listening to or sports team that you're idolizing worshiping what's the word
following that you're a fan of you know that it's just not all about the music that you
listen to and and the you know dressing in your style you know there's the the hip-hop
style then there's the Cowboys the skaters the rockers you know the punks and you know
now they have these emos they didn't have them when I was coming up friend we called
them queers no I'm just kidding but anyway you know these emos or whatever you know basically
just whatever you know dividing yourself along these childish lines instead of getting serious
how about wearing serious clothes how about getting a serious haircut how about living
a serious life instead of just trying to make yourself look like a circus clown and
dress up like the weirdest trendiest new thing so that you can be cool and fit in with your
group now you know my group is Bible believing Christians that's me that's the mature group
to get in a local church people who believe the Bible people who love soul winning and
love God you know that's a good not dividing over dumb things and and things that don't
matter but lastly let me just touch on this uh Hebrews five I want to tell you that children
have a short attention span don't they isn't that a difference between children and adults
a short attention span they can't necessarily sit still and focus on one thing for as long
as an adult can you know adult can just sit down with a good book and just spend hours
and hours reading whereas a children a children are going to fidget and get up and and you
know they don't have the attention span for it and that's part of growing up is that they
need to learn and church is a great place to learn to sit still and learn some that's
why we don't have children's church where we take them in some other building somewhere
somewhere in outer space God has prepared you know and have some wild service for them
you know we want to teach them to have the attention span to sit in a real church listen
to real preaching from a real Bible and by the way get your kids a real Bible that has
white pages black ink that's a King James Version and people say oh the language is
too hard little kids can learn any language you could stick your kid in China they'll
be speaking Chinese and they won't even be hard even if they're a dumb kid they'll speak
Chinese if they grow up with it so why would you say well you know we'll just let them
grow up with the dumb one and by the way the ESV and the NIV are for dumb people and
here's what's so funny it's all these scholars and the oh you know you're King James only
people are so ignorant you know we with the ESV are so much more intelligent and then
you tell them hey King James right well that King James is too hard to understand you just
finished talking about how dumb we are and how smart you are if we're so dumb and you're
so smart then why do we read the hard Bible and you read the easy Bible that doesn't make
any sense you're reading some dumb down hop-on-pop version dr. Seuss version and then you're
gonna tell us how smart you are yeah oh you can't you can't read that King James it's
way too hard it's way too complicated yeah it's too hard for you if you're ignorant if
you're uneducated unsaved yeah exactly because you know the natural man receive it not the
things of the Spirit of God their foolishness unto him neither can he know them because
they're spiritually discerned but they say oh man that King James is too hard that's
why I read it directly from the Greek and Hebrew because that's so much easier you know
or they'll say oh man you got to get it in I remember I was told when I was a teenager
you need to stop reading the King James that's what my youth pastor told me in the Baptist
Church I went to he said you need to get off that King James it's too hard for you to understand
and I'm like are you calling me stupid here you know what do you mean it's too hard for
me to understand I understand it why did I understand it because I grew up with it and
here's the thing even people who didn't grow up with it it's not that complicated you know
what the big hard thing about the King James is let's just say it it's the these and the
vows well look you can't learn two words the and thou is it really that hard to learn the
and listen let me just help you thou means you and guess what the means the same thing
you so it's really it's two words with one meaning you so you know oh man I just can't
handle the these and the vows well you know can I help you into your straitjacket can
we get you it maybe we should put you in a in a high chair and feed you with I mean look
anybody anybody who can't understand the words the and thou after it's been explained to
them I can understand if somebody just never heard the word thou and somebody said hey
it's you oh okay end of story we can move on with our lives now that we all know what
thou means but anybody who's just like I just can't get the these and the vows it's like
do you feed yourself do you use a toilet do you blow your nose do you I mean what what
other impairments do you have that you can't learn these really basic words and you say
oh but you know there's a lot of hard words in the kingdom you know there's a lot of hard
words in every Bible you know why because parts of the Bible are hard and the Bible
even says that in Paul's epistles are some things hard to be understood so if the Bible
tells us look in some things in Paul's epistles are hard to be understood and then somebody
wants to come along and make it easy that'd be changing God's Word because part of it's
supposed to be hard part of it's supposed to be easy see this book lasts you for your
whole life you know what if it was just all easy stuff you'd get bored with it what if
it was all hard stuff then when you were a kid you'd have nothing to read but God gave
us a mixture of that which is easy that which is hard one of the reasons why we tell people
when they get saved hey start reading in the book of John is because John is written in
very simple language so most people will point that out as a good place to start hey read
the book of John but you know what's funny if you go to learn Greek you know what the
Greek teacher will always tell you start with John now why is the Greek teacher telling
you to start with John and the person who gets you saved with an English Bible is telling
you to start with John guess what because John is easiest in Greek and it's easiest
in English because the English is just translating the Greek so the easy one in Greek is the
easy one in English and then they'll always say oh Hebrews is really hard in in in the
Greek New Testament yeah it's hard in English too so should we make it easy no because it's
designed to be hard there's stuff that's easy and stuff that's hard so we don't want to
just dumb it all down and then just have dumb Christians and I heard somebody say you know
well what about foreigners though how dare you demand that people use this difficult
Bible the King James what about these poor foreigners what about them here here's an
idea get them a Bible in their own language I mean if they're that much of a foreigner
that they don't speak English here's an idea if they speak Spanish give them a Spanish Bible
instead of okay everybody we all have to use a dumbed-down Bible because of foreigners that
doesn't make any sense those of us who were born and raised here are gonna use this and you know
what I think that it's great when people can read the Bible in their own tongue wherein they were
born because even when we learn a second language our native language is always the one that's
dearest unto us we're always gonna understand it the best even people who are fluent in a foreign
language they still understand things a little better in their in their native tongue so those
who are native in Spanish or native in whatever the language whether it be Portuguese or whether
it be Romanian French you know it's great if they can get a Bible in their own language and read it
in their native tongue not saying well what about foreigners hmm gonna make them read a King James
too no we're gonna get on a Bible in their own language then and look even if people go to an
english-speaking Church because they live in America you know what a lot of them do is bring
a Bible in their native tongue so they can listen to the preaching and then check it out in a in a
language that they understand a little better you know bring a Spanish Bible and follow along in
that or whatever okay and that and that's great but to sit there and say oh we need to dumb down
the Bible no you need to get smarter we don't need to make the Bible dumb we need you to get smart
you need to learn some words and by the way these new by these new versions are filled with hard
words it's been proven they're not even really easier they're just different because they're
changing scripture but short attention span let's see it in scripture this is the last thing Hebrew
so and if you think the sermons too long you might be one of those people that has a real short
attention span you need to focus all right don't be the example of my sermon but Hebrews 5 says
this you know called of God and high priest after the order of Melchizedek now up to verse 10 he
just finished explaining some complicated doctrine in the book of Hebrews a complicated book so he
explains a bunch of complicated doctrine and he finishes up in verse 10 saying called of God and
high priest after the order of Melchizedek of whom we have many things to say and hard to be
uttered seeing your dole of hearing so he's saying I have a lot more to teach you of this complicated
stuff and we could talk more about Melchizedek but he says your dole of hearing and when someone
is dole of hearing it means basically that they're starting to tune it out now okay and he says in
verse 12 for when for the time you ought to be teachers ye have need that one teach you again
which be the first principles of the oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk and
not of strong meat for everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness for
he's a babe he's a baby but strong meat belongeth to them that are a full age even those who by
reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil he's saying the
babes are dole of hearing when doctrine is laid out and taught why because they have the short
attention span of a child hey we have more to say about Melchizedek but your dole of hearing
you're a baby so I have to go back and and you know break it down I mean just shame on us if
that would ever be said unto us you know well there's a lot more great doctrine to teach you
but you just can't pay attention you're bored easily and you know children they have a short
attention span you can't preach as long unto them because they start to fade away they can't
read the Bible as long because they start to zone out and they can't sit still and you know that's
that's okay for children I mean they're children right but as they grow up that attention span
should increase whereas adults today having a short attention span that's a problem and this
is why your average church today the sermon is a 15-minute sermon and I think there are a couple
reasons for the 15-minute sermons reason number one the pastor doesn't have a lot to say because
he's not really that excited about the Word of God or the work of God he doesn't have a big
vision he doesn't have a lot of doctrine to lay out he's filling time checking off another sermon
just how's the offering how's the attendance you know well how can we grow yada yada yada okay so
the pastor doesn't have a lot to say so that's why he's done in 15 minutes okay number two he's
done in 15 minutes because people want him to be done in 15 minutes because they have a short
attention span because they're going to church out of duty and religious obligation not because
they're coming with the fork and the knife in their hand and the napkin done up around their
neck saying you'll feed me I'm hungry give me some strong meat I'm hungry yeah they come and
they're basically just filling time can we get to the boat launch can we get to lunch can we get to
the picnic and they're not really there to get serious about sitting down and digging into the
word and buckling down for some serious doctrine because they're a babe in Christ whereas the
serious adult Christian shows up at church and wants to learn wants to be taught and can sit for
a couple hours and listen to preaching and teaching you know when you go to pastors meetings where
you'll go to a place where a whole bunch of pastors get together and preach to each other
and things like that you know I've gone to meetings like that where it was just a day of
preaching I mean you'd sit and listen to preaching for hours and hours and hours and you're enjoying
it you know you're learning and here's the thing when you get to be an adult and when you grow up
you can pick up the Bible and read it for a few hours sit down and read it for a few hours you
know read entire books you know read entire sections right and that's maturity to be able
to do that whereas a child you know you have to give it to them in little digestible segments and
that's okay for children but we are not to be children we're to grow up and all wrapping up
all is wrapped up in this to be childish is to be carnal and to be an adult is to be spiritual
it's that simple because of the fact that children are just driven by the flesh I mean
if you think about a newborn baby he's not pondering the meaning of life he's not thinking
about spiritual things it's just it's just all I mean there are only a few things on that baby's
mind get me to the breast get this dirty diaper off me pick me up and rock me and cradle me you
know make me feel good right I mean isn't that what a baby's like just meet my physical carnal
needs and that's okay that's normal but for an adult to not have a spiritual bone in his body
and to just live from cheeseburger to ice cream cone to skin flick you know and just how can I
gratify the flesh in one way or another and just no spirituality no meditating on the Word of God
no pondering the the the things of the Lord and and the Word of God and the teachings of Jesus
Christ no reading God's Word and and and and studying the Bible and and caring about other
people's souls and spending time in prayer like we talked about this morning and you know praying
it's just laying on the couch getting as comfortable as you can you got the remote
control get you know surround yourself with snacks you know you got a nice place to put
the chips on your chest just kind of relax you know and just carnal flashy you know children
grow up by the way children will eat any junk food they don't say oh no I better not you know
you're offering them you know candy chocolate you know they don't say you know I think I've
had too much I better not you know I you know pass the cauliflower you know pass the broccoli
but adults will say pass the broccoli pass the cauliflower you know they will say you know hey
give me the main course not just let's go straight into the desert right and just eat
junk you know why because adults are less carnal let's just physically motivated by just the
immediate itch and urge and hunger and thirst they're more thinking about spiritual things
and thinking about you know intellectual things this is the difference between being childish and
being an adult a generation of children is what Jesus said whereunto shall I liken this generation
they're like children and we need to escape this childlike mentality where people are in their
20s and 30s and they still act like teenagers god forbid even in their 40s and 50s the midlife
crisis acting like a teenager you know just be proud of your age and don't try to relive you
only get it's only one one childhood per customer okay you don't go back and do it again you do it
once and you just need to learn to enjoy every embrace being in your 30s embrace the 40s embrace
the 50s and don't just try to relive the glory days you look like a fool you look like an idiot
teenagers don't think you're cool they never will let's bow rides and have a word of prayer father
we thank you so much Lord for all these teachings in the Bible where we can get some concrete ways
to work on our maturity Lord help us to work on it help us to gain knowledge help us to fact
check things that that are divers and strange doctrines help us to get serious and not play
games and fool around so much help us to work hard and be self-motivated and not have someone
just have to crack the whip on us to get things done help us to be responsible help us to be
spiritual Lord and help us not to have strife and envying Lord but help us to put others first and
esteem others better than ourselves and in Jesus name we pray amen