Life begins in the womb of a mother who needs to eat a balanced diet in order to have a healthy pregnancy before a child is born. Likewise a person who is outside of Christ needs have the seed planted in order for the Word of God Inspired Word to develop in it’s purity for it to grow in ones heart.
Once the new born baby is born it first begins to take its first breath as it begins it’s new life, just like when a new babe in Christ starts their new life having departed from their former existence in darkness of a sinful past and is now in the light. We all know that a new born baby needs taking care of which involves clothing the baby, bathing the baby and feeding it at regular feeding times so that the baby can begin to grow day by day, week by week. At the beginning of life’s new journey the baby tends to cry a lot because it has no other way of communicating which is why a good mother uses her instincts to help calm the baby down and discover what it might be crying about. It might just need a cuddle or two to comfort the baby, or it might need changing its soiled nappy, or possibly a feed. The baby in its first few weeks has no other way of letting you know what the issue is and needs you to keep this child warm, and to comfort the baby day and night through the early days of its new life. Just like a new christian needs supporting as they learn how to walk with Christ each day and with it comes reassurance that someone loves them.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
A mother needs to feed the child with milk either from her breast or from a milk bottle which needs to be the right temperature, neither to hot or too cold, but just right. You can not expect to feed the new born on a roast dinner with all the trimmings, likewise a new christian is not able to understand everything in the Bible but with time they will come to know more and more as they learn more about what God expects of us all. It all takes time and God is patient with us, not wanting us to be lost but to come to Him for His help and guidance in everything.
as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby,
We all understand that a new babe in Christ needs to also be fed on the pure milk of the Word of God. A new babe in Christ needs that reassurance that Jesus Christ is always close at hand and will never desert them, just like a good mother with her new born child will never forsake them, so we as mature brethren need to be on hand to help and support them too. A baby or a new child of God can not grow if they are not taken care of at the beginning of their new life. But as the child begins to grow and learns some simple words we need to be their to encourage them and build them up with praising them as they learn. Good parents will teach their children how to behave as they grow up into being responsible adults. Just like the more mature brethren must be readily available to assist when needed.
For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe.
One thing we know for sure, we know that we need to go on to maturity as we can not continue to be fed on milk alone forever. We need to grow in the knowledge and understanding both spiritually and physically which means we must learn how to be the very best we can and able to stand on our own two feet. So we need to develop and learn what else we can feed on. Once we get into having the ability of looking after ourselves, we can then be thinking of teaching others what we have learnt so far. We can not stand still and stop learning, neither can we not survive as His people if we fail to feed on His Word, otherwise we will perish without any hope of life eternal.
Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
We can not be expected to know everything straight away which is why we need to be patience and long suffering so that we can teach them little bit by little bit the things they need to be taught so that they can learn to stand on their own two feet and be more confident as they achieve each step by step in becoming the person they aspirer to becoming day by day.
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
As we grow in the knowledge and understanding of God’s inspired word which comes from studying our Bibles, hopefully we will become more mature rightly handling the scriptures and at some stage we will be able to teach others by planting the seed in their hearts for those who need to know the truth on how they too can be saved.
These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so
Just remember this, God does not want anyone to be lost but for all to come to repentance which is why we need to get into the habit of studying the scriptures daily so that we can work out our own salvation in accordance with the scriptures. Yes, we have been given the opportunity to live a life that is pleasing to God the Father and to lead good, honest, obedient, faithful lives in our service to Him through Jesus Christ Our Saviour. We have a responsibility to become more like Jesus and to lead the lost to Christ in faithful service to Him and we all need to grow in the knowledge and understanding of His Word which is the Only Way to be Saved.
…that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
By the way, there’s not one perfect person except Jesus Christ who has always been totally sinless, the truth of the matter we all slip up and do things that are sinful and as a result we need to recognise that we fall short in God’s eyes and do things we shouldn’t from time to time, which is why we always need to study our Bibles and learn from them and how best to avoid making the same mistakes all over again. For those of us who are in Christ, we always need to confess when we have done something wrong in order for Christ to forgive us and He will remember them no more and that’s a promise, likewise we must always be ready to forgive our children when they have been naughty and reassure them we still love them even though they need to be corrected and put back on the straight and narrow that leads to life eternal.
and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
When we come together on the first day of the week (Sunday) regardless of whether we are a new member or have grown in Christ and are able to teach those who are now able to feed on the meat of God’s Inspired Word, we should take time to examine ourselves when it comes to partaking the Lord’s Supper because as more mature members we still fall short from time to time, just like adults don’t always do the right thing, but we have the opportunity to say sorry to our children when we’ve done something wrong to them and put things right if we can. As mature brethren we need to lead by example. We all know that children tend to follow their parents and make the same mistakes
We should always except that we won’t always be right with God because we all have sinned, but we can always try our best to make things right by doing what is good and acceptable to God Almighty according to His good will.
So in Conclusion:
From the cradle to the grave, we must all be fed on God’s inspired word in order to grow and be more like the Example of Jesus Our Lord and we need to get into the habit of studying our Bibles daily. As more mature brethren we need to lead by example and be their for those who have just put on Christ in baptism. So whether we are new to body of Christ or whether we have been in Christ many years, we need to be faithful and obedient as His people because we will all have to give an answer to God when we pass from this life into eternity.
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.
By the way there’s a good website link we can all download this good Bible App which is available online onto those of us who own a mobile phone. I use this website that helps me find the scriptures I need for my lesson, biblestudytools.com/nkjv
Lesson has been delivered by: Bro. Robert H Brown