Mature Thinking

I'm guessing that you've noticed that the theme of thinking has popped up in the last several sermons I preached. Some of what I said was planned, and some wasn't. I've thought about that a bit, and I'm not sure that my comments about thinking were as helpful as they might have been. So, I'm going to return to that theme today. I do this in the hope that I will be a bit clearer, a bit more helpful. To do that I'm going to use something from Paul as he exhorted the Corinthians to think well.

Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.

Paul is applying this exhortation to the topic at hand in that part of his letter to the Corinthian church, but his point also applies more generally. Paul presses home the importance of thinking. So, you might say that I was imitating him. But he wrote more specifically than I spoke. He called for mature thinking. That added word is quite helpful. It gives us something to latch on to and follow. It makes his point clear. So, let's consider mature thinking.

In talking about mature thinking Paul is letting us know that there is such a thing as immature thinking. This isn't about committing some sin when it comes to thinking. It's just that there is a kind of thinking that has not developed. It is childish. So, he writes, 'do not be children in your thinking'. There is no sin in being a child, unless you still act like one when you're an adult. So, there is a contrast here: mature thinking as over against immature thinking.

Something in another part of the Bible will be helpful here. If you've read much from Proverbs you'll remember the ongoing contrast between the wise and the foolish. The wise understand life. They understand that living well begins with living under God. The fool rejects that kind of thinking. And that's why life for the fool is so wrong. What you might not remember is that there is third category: the simple.

How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? 

There's a translation, the New American Standard, that expresses the point very clearly.

How long, O naive ones, will you love being simple-minded?

So, while the wise get it and fools are rebellious, the simple, the naive, are clueless. Their understanding of how life works is undeveloped. It is childish. And how can someone live well if he doesn't understand what living well looks like, if he doesn't understand how life works? This lack isn't because they are especially rebellious. No, it's just that their understanding of life has not grown. They are immature in their thinking. And, again, that's understandable if you are a child. But it isn't if you're an adult.

This helps to clarify what I had said to you in previous sermons. My point wasn't about being 'smart'. The ability to think is not about intelligence. It's about understanding how life works. And developing that understanding is not automatic. It takes effort to mature in one's thinking. It takes effort to grow in one's understanding of how life works.

Let's look again at what I've labeled 'understanding how life works'. It starts with understanding God. The wise embrace this. Fools reject it. But the simple, the immature, don't see it. And that blindness is a problem, a big problem. Life, every aspect of life, is tied to who God is and what He is doing. You will never grow to understand how life works if you don't grow to understand God. This is at the very heart of mature thinking. So, here are some questions you might ask so that you can understand God:

What is God like?

What makes Him happy?

What's important to Him?

What does He expect of me?

What does He think of me?

Does He like me?

If He does, why does He?

If He doesn't, why not?

Do I have to do something to get Him to like me?

Will He ever change His mind and no longer like me?

Will He like me more if I do something special?

The answers to those questions, or even the lack of answers to those questions, affect a person's sense of himself, his sense of worth, how he deals with the ups and downs of life and lots more. And that's true because we are created beings. God has made us. He has made us to know and enjoy Him. And that means that He has made us in such a way that the answers to those questions affect us all deeply. Thinking that is mature understands and accepts some basic things about God. Thinking that is mature understands the character of God. Thinking that is mature will show in how a person lives as one of God's creations.

Those who are mature in their thinking don't only understand God. They also understand people. So, here is some of what Proverbs has to say about people:

Even in laughter the heart may ache, 
and the end of joy may be grief.

The heart knows its own bitterness, 
and no stranger shares its joy.

A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, 
but envy makes the bones rot.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, 
but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

What was all of that? That was God's description of the inner workings of people. Those verses will help you understand people. Some of those verses remind you that there is what you see and then what you don't. Behind all the laughter there just might be a heart that is breaking. Beneath the veneer of joy just might be a ton of grief. How much good has occurred when someone who understood these things didn't accept his friend's cheery smile but pushed a little. 'No, really, how are you doing?' Those who are mature in their thinking understand people and, as a result, can be a great help to them.

Along with understanding God and other people, someone who is mature in his thinking understands himself. And that is by no means easy. From Jeremiah:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

So, why do I do the things that I do? Or to be more specific: Why do I get so stressed in situations that, as I look back, weren't all that bad? Why am I afraid when I meet new people? What keeps me from quickly forgiving an offense? Why do I complain so much? Or to look at the other side of the coin. What am I good at? What are some ways that I can be helpful to others? What makes me flourish? What would make me really happy?  

There are answers to these questions. The first step to the answers is simply asking the questions, thinking about such things. And that is something relatively few people do. Can a person live well if he doesn't even understand himself?

So, this explains some of what was going on in those sermons. This was what I was getting at when I was, to be honest, ranting about the need to think. It's crucial to move from being a naive simpleton to being wise and thus avoid becoming a rebellious fool. You need to take the time and effort to grow in your understanding of how life works. That's what thinking, mature thinking, is about.

Now, we're ready for the practical question. What do you do so that you can become mature in your thinking? Listen to something from Hebrews.

Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Did you notice how the author described those who are mature? They are people who have their powers of discernment - that's about understanding - trained by practice. Practice is how you take what someone has taught you and make it yours. When I was taking piano lessons my teacher would teach me some new things about playing and then send me home to practice those things. The goal was for me to take what she taught me and make it mine. In a manner of speaking, I am your piano teacher. Each week I teach you some things from the Bible, and then I send you home to practice those things. In this way you are to take what you've been taught and make it your own. You take home something I've said and you apply it to your life. The piano student who faithfully goes to his lessons but never practices what he was taught will never mature as a pianist. The Christian who hears a sermon, says that it had some interesting points, but never practices what he was taught will never mature as a Christian. The mature are trained by practice. The mature understand God, others and themselves because they work at it.

There are different things that you might take from a sermon and put into practice. Sometimes it's a skill to develop. So, today's sermon offers you an example of how to work at understanding a verse. Did you notice what I did? I read 1 Corinthians 14.20. I focused on one particular word, mature. I flipped it over and considered its opposite, immature. I did this to try to get a handle on the idea of mature. Next, I related all of that to another word in Scripture, simple. And that helped to explain a little further this idea of mature. This morning I gave you a model of how to meditate on a bit of Scripture, a skill to practice. That sort of thing happens in lots of my sermons.

A sermon also presents you with ideas to understand. Earlier I read a list of questions about God. You could try to answer one of those questions. As you were able to come to an answer your understanding of God would mature.

And you don't have to do these things alone. You can - and should - do it with others. Family devotions is a good time for members of the family to mention what they've been 'practicing', what they've been working at making their own. You have enough opportunities as a church, between monthly luncheons, Bible studies, even time after worship to mention to someone else what you've been 'practicing'. Maturing in your thinking is actually a group project.

I think that it's fair to say that knowing what to do to become mature in your thinking is not that difficult. The challenge is in doing it. But bear in mind what's at stake here. Being mature in your thinking. Being a mature Christian. Being wise.

One last thought. Why is this important? That's always a good question. My answer is based on my own limited experience of the evangelical church in America. There is a great lack of disciples who are mature in their thinking. Or to say it differently, there is a great lack of older, wiser Christian men and women. And that's a problem because the Scriptures assume that there will be older, wiser Christians who will be able to disciple the younger, still simple Christians. The older mentoring the younger is supposed to be a normal part of any church's life. It's not happening, not to the extent that it should.

As our culture continues to fall apart, things about sane living - forget about godly living -  that were just assumed in the recent past are fast becoming unknown. We used to just assume that men married women and that giving birth to children whom you would train to become mature adults was a great idea. We used to just assume that working hard during the week to provide for the family and save a bit for the future was normal. We used to just assume that courtesy toward others, respect to our elders, and honest and deep friendships with our peers were key ingredients to a life lived well. We used to just assume that family life was about love and lots of time together and real conversations around the dinner table. We can just assume those things no longer. They are increasingly unknown. And here's one consequence of that. There will be, God willing, new converts walking through those doors. But these new converts will know none of what sane living is - let alone what a holy life for Jesus looks like. So, who will teach them? Who will mentor them so that they will understand how life works? There is and will increasingly be the need for wise Christians, those who understand life, mature thinkers. There is, and will increasingly be, a great need. But will there be enough wise Christians to meet that need?

The solution is not to go home and try harder. No, the solution is to sit down and discuss these things with your God. What we need is for the Spirit to guide us, to point out where we are doing well and where we need to see some change. And He will do that if we ask Him. And the basic motivation in all of this is simply to be a faithful Church proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus by our words and our lives. That’s the goal, and He can get us there.