Jump Start # 112
1 Corinthians 14:20 “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.”
Throughout Paul’s writings, especially to the Corinthians, the apostle is concerned with the maturity of brethren. In the chapter before, as he was instructing about spiritual gifts, he said, “when I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (13:11). In the last chapter of Corinthians Paul writes, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong” (16:13). Today, we’d say, “grow up!”
Our verse today shows that in some things we are not to be childish, but in other things we are. This is similar to what Jesus said, “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves” (Mt 10:16). Childish in some areas, but grown up in others, that is what Paul is driving at. Now, we must know when to be like a child and when to be grown up. If we get this mixed up then we’ll be in a mess.
Don’t be childish in your thinking, but be mature. The mature consider. They see beyond the obvious. They consider consequences and the impact of what they do upon others. They think. They analyze. They put thought into what they are doing. Children don’t. They just do what they want. When they don’t get their way they pout and throw a fit. They cry to get their way. They get upset and go home. Now most of us have seen “grown up children.” They have never grown up in their thinking. Spiritually they want to be served. They want the church to cater to their needs. They feel that it is all about them. When they don’t get attention, they fuss and throw a fit and threaten to leave. Many do. The rest who witness these tirades just want to say, “Grow up,” and maybe we should. The apostle did. The mature understand that we are to have the heart of a servant, as Jesus did. He came to serve and not be served. His disciples are the same. The mature realize that it is about God. Our Lord is to be magnified as Psalms teaches us. Attention, adoration, praise goes to God and not us. We work together. We must get along with one another. We must strive to be peaceable and maintain unity. Submitting to one another is the key to any success in the church. The mature know this. The childish never get it.
The apostle then flips this and says, “in evil be infants.” Be innocent. Be naïve. How is it that some know all the slang words for drugs, all the “street language,” all the gang terms? I heard a preacher once talking about drugs and he was using all the common slang words that the drugs are called on the streets. I had no idea what he was talking about. I wonder how many in the audience knew. There are some things that it is good just to be innocent and naïve about. Proverbs tells us not to envy evil doers. If I wanted to go out and buy some street drugs today, I’d be arrested in two seconds because I wouldn’t know where to go, what to say or how to do it. This is much more than being naïve about drugs, it is about all evil. Don’t spend time thinking about how evil people do evil. Don’t learn the ways of evil. Fill your mind and heart with righteous thoughts.
Childish and mature. They both dwell within us. That is what the apostle wanted. We must learn when to be mature and when to be infants. It’s what you think about and it affects what you do.
Roger