Keith Battle - Let's Grow Up

Today, I want to talk about growing up. In fact, do me a favor: I want you to say it to one person on either side of you, someone near you. I want you to do it! Put it in the chat for me. Just tell somebody around you, two people: let’s grow up! Yeah, let’s grow up! Let’s go! Don’t tell them they need to grow up; don’t tell them you’re glad they’re here because they need to do some growing up. Don’t even start an argument. When you say, «let’s grow up, ” it is an acknowledgment that we both have room for improvement. Deacon William Hulley, our Chief Ministry and Business Service Officer, often says this. He says the largest room in the world is the room for improvement. Let’s grow up. Let’s grow up! Let’s get better. Let’s mature. It’s interesting that in the world in which we live, there is something called the age of majority. The age of majority is society’s way of defining when someone transitions from being a child to an adult. In some parts of the world, that age is 18, while in others, it goes up to 21. The deal is that when you hit that age, society says you’re grown. Now, you have all the rights and responsibilities of an adult. However, with all due respect to societal norms regarding maturation, it doesn’t work like that in the spiritual realm. You reach maturity when you do what this verse says: when you stop talking like, thinking like, and reasoning like a child. In fact, you don’t become an adult just because you grow older. The end of the verse says you don’t become grown until you put away childish things. You have to put them away because childish things do not go away on their own. Growth is a decision. You come to a point where you realize, „I’m too old to keep doing this.“ This is the fourth situation I’ve been in like this, and they all said we were going to get married. Okay, let me come over here because I just want to ask: how many of you understand that there comes a point in your life where you say, „I am too old for this“? This is immature! You have to say that to yourself because nobody else can change you. As long as you believe your own story, you will remain in an immature state. Paul says, „When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a child, I reasoned as a child.“ That made sense because he was a child then. But he says, „When I became an adult, when I grew up…“ Watch this: he didn’t grow up simply because of age. This isn’t just about age; it’s about stages. Some of you, as parents, understand this because if you have a child who has surpassed the age of majority—whether over 18 or over 21—sometimes you feel conflicted because you want to say, „I have all adult, grown children.“ But the reality is that even though they’ve reached the age of majority, they still act like, talk like, think like, and behave like kids. You’re not going to talk to me? I get it. We have to be careful; it’s possible to be old and still talk, think, and operate like a child. It’s time to grow up! Let’s grow up! Paul said, „When I…“ Now, please understand. Let me preface this: I recognize the hermeneutical and homiletical danger of what I’m about to do. It is risky to isolate verse 11 when, in fact, the verse itself is an illustrative example and an explanation of verses 8 through 10. It’s actually explaining those verses. Let me read from verses 8 through 10: „Prophecy, speaking in unknown languages, and special knowledge will become useless, but love will last forever.“ Paul is trying to teach the Corinthians, who think they’re spiritual because they’re gifted—they have all the gifts operating in their church—that what they don’t have is love. In verse 9, he says, „Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture. But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.“ He says, „When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.“ Then he talks about how we can’t see as clearly now; we see like in a mirror. But when that which is complete has come, I will be known completely. Here’s what he’s saying: just like there are partial things and things you think are complete that are actually partial—these gifts—what I’m trying to show you is that the journey from partial to complete is like a child becoming a grown-up. It’s an illustration of what he’s trying to explain, and in fact, the whole context is talking about love. He says love is greater than faith, hope, and even spiritual gifts. The Corinthian church was lacking in love. You all have the gifts, but you don’t love anyone. And let me quickly say to everybody who is gifted: don’t let your gift make you stay nasty. What you need is some love with your anointing!