Read 1 Corinthians 1:1-4
Stunted spiritual growth
Photo by Colin Maynard on Unsplash.
Paul speaks to the Christians in the church at Corinth in a tone of disappointment and sadness. He is so sad about their spiritual condition. He uses a metaphor to describe their lack of spiritual growth - he compares them to babies. Of course, we all love babies. They are cute and cuddly. They are so helpless and dependent on adults to survive. However, we do not expect them to remain as babies for too long. I have frequently remarked that my youngest granddaughter grew up too quickly. It seemed no time until she was running around the house and speaking in long sentences. She passed the baby stage very quickly. Paul is speaking about the stunted spiritual growth of these believers. He talks about them still being fed on milk and not being able to eat solid food. He is not speaking literally of them being breast fed. This is a metaphor - we are well aware that young babies need to be fed with milk but there is something not right when a five year old child still needs his mother's milk.
But that is what was happening to these Christians. They had not grown since they became Christians. We should treat new Christians as babies - in the sense that they have experienced the new birth and the Christian life is all new to them. They are finding it all so strange and different from their life previous to their conversion. There are many subjects in the Bible which they would find too difficult to understand. They would choke if someone tried to talk about the truth of election or justification to them. But that is ok. However, we should expect to have made progress in our Christian life as time passes by. It is sad to discover Christians who are still at the baby stage. They have not begun to grow as a Christian.
Paul uses a Greek word to describe the Corinthians. He calls them 'babes' and the Greek word is 'nepios' which literally means 'not speaking' or 'without the power of speech.' There is great excitement when the baby utters the first word and mum is over the moon if the child says, 'Mama.' There are milestones in a child's development and there is anxiety of the child has not reached any of these milestones. It is worrying if the wee girl is about to start school and she has never uttered a single word.
So what about us today? Are there lessons we can learn from the Corinthians? What produced this state of stunted growth? I do think that these verses teach us a very important lesson in 2021. Have we made any progress since we first became a Christian? How much progress have we made since last year? Maybe we are going backwards instead of forward - regressing instead of progressing in spiritual matters. I remember a chorus we were taught in Sunday School.
Read your Bible, pray every day
And you'll grow, grow, grow.
The Corinthians did not have a Bible as we know it and they certainly did not have the Bible on their mobile phones. We can access Bibles so easily. Several people wondered if there was a need for Day Share because there are so many different ways of hearing or reading thoughts about the Bible. The Corinthians would have had limited access to the Word of God. They might have been able to read parts of the Old Testament but remember that the New Testament was still being written. They might have been able to read the Gospel of Mark or Luke. But this was before printing and it was difficult to obtain anything in writing. They depended so much on oral teaching and Paul had provided them with good teaching - but he soon discovered that there was so much that they could not understand because they were not ready for it. And he says that sadly years later, they are still not ready to understand the Word of God. I wonder if they were forgetting to pray. Maybe they were just saying prayers - and this is not the same thing, When we pray we are committing our situation to God and trusting in Him to intervene in our lives. We are grateful and thankful to Him for his grace and kindness to us each day.
Sadly, there were things in their life which was affecting their growth. Paul speaks about them being carnal and this is the subject of the next Day Share. I leave you today with the challenge that God has given me from these verses. Am I growing daily and monthly and yearly in spiritual matters? Do people notice any signs of growth and development in my Christian life.? Has God been teaching me hard lessons and have I been a reluctant learner in God's school of spiritual growth? Am I still behaving like a baby as far as God is concerned?
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