Sunday Morning Service, 3/29/09

Songs

• We Bring The Sacrifice Of Praise
• Love The Lord
• It Was A Great Thing
• Field Of Souls
• That's Why We Praise Him
• Jesus Lover Of My Soul
• Above All
• How Great Is Our God
• How Great Thou Art

Message: Becoming A Man

Pastor Ulysse

I struggled with this message for a little while, because I could see that just the title could cause problems for some. Some would say, "I don't want to be a man," but this message isn't about male and female. We're talking about maturity.

In this context, the apostle Paul was speaking of things that will pass in time. And he continued saying that when he became a man, he put away childish things.

We must, like Paul, become mature; we must put away childish things. Some of us, though we are old, still haven't put away childish things.

I asked a brother how a child speaks, and the first thing he told me was, that a child speaks without thinking. So if you find yourself talking without thinking, or without being serious, or without stopping, you are talking as a child. When we talk, we must learn to use our mind and understanding.

Paul also said, "When I was a child, I understood as a child." In this scripture, Paul speaks to the church about understanding:

As a child, you don't have enough understanding for strong meat; you have to be fed with milk. These people were carnal; there were disputings and arguments among them. I look around and see some people who are always fighting about nothing. Many children are like that, and some of them stay just the same as they grow older.

I want to emphasize this last verse. "Full age" doesn't mean a certain number of years, like twelve or thirteen. It is defined as "those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Children don't have that discernment. But when you have your senses so exercised, you become a man.

Children don't think about good and evil; they think about "Mine! Mine! Mine!" They are selfish. They don't plan for the future; they only think about right now. But what is the thinking of an adult? Each age is different. Paul said that when he became a man, he put away childishness. What is childishness? The Bible talks about foolishness:

It's normal for a child to be foolish; it's not normal for them to be thinking about the right things. But if you don't stop that foolishness as early as possible; if you wait until sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, it may be too late. The next time you go out shopping, you should ship for a rod. In Haiti, you will see them hanging on the wall. They're special; they are long and flat and they do not break.

Paul was speaking to the church. I'm sure they were not children physically, but their hearts were bound up in foolishness and evil.

You don't need to teach a child how to live; it's no trick to teach them to do evil. But to do good, you need to train them. Evil is always present in a child. Becoming a man means doing away with that evil.

Being a child means being in bondage. I was thinking not long ago that it must be hard being a child. Even though the parents do all they can to make the children feel free, their lives are filled with boundaries. That's why they want to leave; they want to feel freedom. But until that day, they are in bondage.

Spiritually, if you remain a child, you are in bondage to everything in the world. That's why Paul used the word "carnal" to describe the church. That's why God gave us pastors and teachers in the church:

You can deceive a child so easily. That is part of what we do away with when we become a man.

Of course, to every rule there is an exception. Jesus said that we must come to him as little children. So let's look at what aspects of being a child we need to keep, and not do away with.

Notice in verse three where it says "except you be converted." That doesn't mean you need to run around and play and act like a child, but you need to humble yourself as a child before God.

Sometimes you have to choose to be a child for spiritual gain. Sometimes you have to humble yourself because you see the benefit of doing so. You have to be mature enough to know when to be a child and when to be a man. In understanding, be a man, but in malice, be a child. Humble yourself for the right reason.

I'd like to take you to three different dwellings of man. If I would ask you, as a man, where did we live for the first time, how would you answer? Life begins in the womb. For the first part of our life, that was our whole world. We spent around nine months in that world. Some of us may have spent as few as seven. At that time, the child starts to exercise, getting ready to come out. If you are pregnant, or if your wife is pregnant, get ready for that seven-month surprise. At eighteen days, the heart starts to form. By twenty-one days, the blood starts pumping. At sixteen to twenty weeks, the baby's ears start to hear noises, like the mother's heartbeat, and people talking.

By the time the the child is born, he is already prepared for the next life. But do you think the kid knows what's going on? Do you think he knows anything about this next place? Have you ever heard of a kid coming out laughing? No, they come out crying, because they were comfortable in that womb, and they want to stay there.

Once out, can the baby go back in? Have you ever heard that tried before? Even if it were possible, it would certainly be a hard thing. So once out, deal with it. This is a new world, the second stage of life.

The second world that we live in is earth. How long are we expected to live here? The limit is set at one hundred and twenty years, but it can be much shorter.

I heard an interview being given to a ninety-six year-old man. They asked him what advice he had to give to the younger generation, and he said, "Don't live to be ninety-six years old." He went through a lot of pain on a daily basis.

Even as the first world was preparation for the second, the second is preparation for the third. Even if we live to become old, we will eventually have to leave this world, just as the baby had to leave the womb. But unlike the baby, we can learn some things about the next world, and make choices that will affect us there.

Some of us make choices that lead to an expectation of sadness. The next destination is your choice, whether heaven or hell.

I remember a train accident where a mother carried a child, and the child had a candy in her hand. The mother died, but the child lived. When the rescuers came to take the child, they took away here candy, and the child started crying. She was old enough to understand that her mother was dead, and she would never see her again. But she did not cry for the mother, but she cried for the candy. A lot of us make the same mistake; we cry over things that of this world, that really don't matter.

Have you ever been discouraged? The next time you get discouraged, think about what is the cause of your discouragement. Ask yourself, "What am I crying for? Does it really matter?" And if you are able to answer that question, then even if you are still discouraged, you can still say, "Thank you, Jesus. My name is written in the lamb's book of life." That's when you become a man. There are some things that no one can take away from you.

If you don't put away foolishness and evil, and everything else that doesn't matter, you need to become a man. You need to consider what will last for eternity.

There was a man who appeared before a judge because he wanted to get a divorce. The judge asked, "On what grounds?" The man answered, "On all five acres." "No," the judge said, "What is your grudge?" "We have a two-car garage." "No, no," the judge said. "You must have a reason for wanting a divorce. What is your reason?" "Oh," the man said. "We have a communication problem."

Some of us have a communication problem with God. And we think that we can come before a judge and blame that problem on someone else.

Be mature; be men. Choose the things that matter. Choose the things that last forever.