WADING RIVER CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

SERMONS IN PRINT

Peter Vibert 6/11/06 Confirmation

Ephesians 4:1-11 “Growth”

I want to say a few words to those we have confirmed today, and perhaps to others too. Everyone knows that what you have done today represents a step towards adulthood. You have taken on for yourselves the promises made for you at your baptism. Where once your parents or God-parents promised that you would be brought up in the Christian faith, you have today said that this is now your faith. Where they once promised to teach you the gospel of Jesus Christ, you have said today that you now believe the gospel yourself. These are big steps. In an important sense, it is now between you and God. You are regarded by the church as “spiritual adults” and no longer children. You have passed the “age of accountability” and answer to God for your own lives. Now that does not mean that as parents or teachers we will give up trying to influence your lives - don’t believe that for a minute! - but we acknowledge that you have taken an important step in growing towards adulthood.

I want to talk a little about “growing towards adulthood” from a Christian perspective. One part of that is being able to tell the difference between right and wrong, better and worse, lies and truth, good and evil, and having the strength of character to choose the good when temptation or desire or pressure or opportunity or fashion or convenience tell us to choose the bad. The book of Hebrews puts it succinctly: “the mature have trained themselves to distinguish good and evil.”

Maturity is a spiritual gift and a spiritual goal. There are people who are old in years, but spiritual babies. There are young people who have more spiritual wisdom than their parents. There are people who know everything there is to know about their jobs, and about how every technical thing works, and how to program anything; but they know almost nothing about good and evil. Maturity includes discernment and wisdom; about knowing what is good and what is not. Maturity is a gift, but it is also a goal. How do we get there?

1) Stick Together

The first thing to know about this “grown-up, mature, wise” state is that it is not simply independence, not just a personal or individual thing. We need each other, and we are supposed to stick together. The Bible insists that we are made as social creatures who depend on God and on each other, and that we were meant to live in community.

In Ephesians 4, Paul roots that idea in the nature of God himself and in the nature of the church. There is “one body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord (Jesus Christ), one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” The most fundamental fact of all is that there is one God and he is God of all. Israel as a nation was defined by this fact: “Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The Church is defined by the fact that there is one Lord, one faith, one Spirit. We are a world-wide, down-through-the-ages, young-and-old-together, “red and yellow, black and white” community of faith in Jesus Christ. You need to get out there and experience some of that, in cultures different from the one you have been brought up in.

We are meant to live together, because God is “together” – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We have to recognize that the way we are created means that we are linked to many other people by networks of personal relationships, and that everything we do affects everyone else. We live in community, whether we want to or not; the question is whether we will live in harmony and unity and respect, or in arguing and fighting over little things that we disagree on. Will we learn to care for each other, be patient, put up with each other, maintain peace? If only some families understood that maturity includes patience and taking care of one another! What a chance your generation has to teach all of us that community is more important than independence, that harmony is worth more than having your opinions heard.

We need each other and we should stick together. You have a chance to do that as you move on. Every High School needs groups of kids who stick together and who stand up for decent behavior and good values. You can be the core of one of those groups in your school. Some of your classmates will crash and burn in the next few years; you already can guess who they will be. But many kids will be caught in between - to hang with the crazed and self-destructive ones, or to hang with a decent crowd? You can be that decent crowd that will help others - and yourselves. We all need each other. Knowing that and acting on that is a part of becoming adult.

2) Use Your Gifts for Others

As Paul teaches about how to reach maturity, he says that as well as our “oneness” - our unity and our community – God has made each of us different, and given us particular gifts. You are discovering your gifts - in academics, in sports, in music, in art, in leadership. You already know that you should strive to develop them fully; that they come like rough diamonds that have to be polished to show their beauty, and that this takes work. But how does being gifted work in relation to what we’ve said about community? Doesn’t having a special gift separate you from others? Don’t gifted people break up community? It depends on how the gifts are used.

The most gifted people learn how to share their gifts in some way with others. That’s not completely possible; you can share only part of what you have - the part that another, probably less gifted person, can appreciate. If you are a fine musician, nobody else can know either what the music does for you on the inside, or where in your soul your musicality comes from. The average listener may not even be able to tell how good you are - only the more gifted people will know that. The same is true if you are a writer, or a speaker, or a dancer, or an athlete or a programmer; nobody but you and God know what it’s really like on the inside! There is a famous line from the movie Chariots of Fire, where the Olympic-level runner Eric Liddell says to his sister (who wants him to quit running and concentrate on becoming a missionary) “God has made me fast, and when I run, I can feel his pleasure.” God knows who you are, what you feel, and he alone fully appreciates your gifts. Always thank him for them, and always share them with him! But you can share with lesser people what you can. If you play on a team, it’s easier, because the sharing is more obvious. On a team, or in a band or an orchestra, everybody needs everybody else, no matter how much of a star you may be.

Paul uses the example of the people God gives gifts to in the church - apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers - to show that they contribute to community, and are not separate from it. Their job - especially the pastor/teachers - is to help all the people towards personal maturity, to prepare all God’s people to serve him, to build up the body of Christ, the church. The goal of all the gifted people in the church is unity of faith, knowledge of Christ, and being “grown up” and not “children” in the church! The goal of gifted people is to share their gifts with others in ways that build them up.

The best leaders in all areas of life are those who work themselves out of a job by training others. The best and most stable churches are those whose people who can easily take over the pastor/teacher’s duties when he’s not there. The best use of your gifts is to build up your community - the school community, the church community, wherever your gifts are best used. You will be blessed, and so will your community.

3) What Maturity is Like

What does adulthood look like? It has a communal side and a personal side. You need to develop both, and in the church we want to help you in any way we can. We can teach you something about community, and how to help other people – especially people in need. We can give you opportunities to help other people. And we can show you that when troubles come to you or your friends or your family – when someone gets really sick, or injured, or arrested, or drunk, or whatever – how we can all pull together to help one another. We can show you what caring looks like, offer you a part in it, give it to you when you need it. I hope you will never forget that as a church community we are “here for you” no matter what may come down the road in your life.

I hope you will also see this as a community where you can use your gifts; that you will use them here; that you will develop them further; that you will share them with us. We want to share in your progress, your development, your education, your growth. You have much to share with us, for our benefit; and we believe we still have much to share with you, for your benefit.

So if you will continue to grow in the faith you have professed today; not imagine you have “graduated” from church or from Christianity; if you will use the gifts God gives you to build up your school, your home, your church; then you will be moving towards maturity in ways that all of us will applaud and even envy.

May God bless you on your journey!

Let us pray...