Baby Talk

I've always had a frustration with people who use "baby talk" when speaking to infants. When my oldest son, Kai, was small, I was adamant with those in whom I entrusted his care to use "real words". The result was a child with an expansive and accurate vocabulary by the time he was two. He was able to communicate with anyone and took to reading easily. 

Six years later this tradition was not so easily transferred to my son, Henry, who calls his bottle a "ba". Had Kai done this, I would've corrected him, even as a baby. Yet here we are and I'm calling it a "ba", too! I realized I was mimicking him when he should have been learning to follow my lead. How will Henry ever know the real words if he doesn't hear them from me?

Too often, this is the picture of the church. Perhaps it's weariness or frustration, but we often give up on "teaching up" and decide to mimic the spiritually immature instead of showing them the way to maturity. We end up with a church like the one addressed in Hebrews 5:12-14 "...by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,  for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil."

Practice. We cannot expect a church full of mature leaders when we've not created an environment that expects practice. Practice is mindful, it is intentional, it is sacrificing speed for depth, and rejecting convenience for spiritual growth. 

The fascinating thing is that true spiritual newborns (those new to the faith) are generally more eager to grow than those who have no business still being considered a "baby in the faith". New Christians often fulfill the admonishment in 1 Peter 2:2-3: " Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good." They haven't forgotten the taste of the Lord's goodness like so many who have been in "the way" for many years. 

Lord, help us long for maturity. Give our leaders patience and endurance to help the faithful grow. Help us to not grow weary in well doing and to continually encourage one another to GROW DEEPER. 

The Prayer that Changed the World

Acts 7 marks a sudden shift in the story of the New Testament Church. The first six chapters contain rapid growth, healings, signs, and wonders. Sure, there was some time in prison for preaching the Name of Jesus, but the Apostles found their way out and carried on. That wave crashes down around the body of Stephen. 

Chosen to serve in the practical needs of the church, Stephen was a man "full of grace and power" (Acts 6:8). While performing signs and wonders, a crowd is stirred up against him by the twisting of his words. Dragged before the Sanhedrin, Stephen delivers an impassioned sermon/history lesson on the way the prophets had been persecuted by the crowd's ancestors. 

At the sound of this truth they can not dispute, "they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him." (Acts 7:54) This is a particularly interesting piece of the picture, seeing that in Luke 13 we hear that hell is a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" where the lost will see "Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God." 

But Stephen is unshakable. "Stephen, filled by the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw God's glory with Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and he said, 'Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

That tops it all! Not only will he not shut up, now he's claiming this Jesus was next to God! They scream at the top of their lungs, cover their ears, and begin to rush him. They throw him out of the city and begin to stone him, but not before leaving their robes with a young man named Saul. 

The phrasing of this next verse cannot be overlooked. "They were stoning Stephen AS HE CALLED OUT: 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not charge them with this sin!' And saying this, he fell asleep." (Acts 7:59-60)

The man lay dying. Blood no doubt poured from his eyes, ears,  and mouth as every vessel in his body was put under stress. His ribs fractured, his face swollen, and yet while he is being murdered, he cries out for their mercy. 

I don't actually think Stephen prayed that at all. I think it was the Holy Spirit in him who pressed that prayer through. 

Stephen had heaven's attention. Jesus Himself stood watching. In that moment, his final seconds, he could have prayed anything with absolute confidence his prayers would be heard. He could have easily prayed for earthly resurrection or that someone step in like Gamaliel had done for the Apostles.

He could have prayed for his persecutors to drop dead. He could have prayed for his body to cause the rocks to bounce back and kill the murderers surrounding him. 

Do you know why he didn't? Because of me and, if you are a Gentile, then because of you, too.

Had he prayed revenge on the mob, that would've included Saul. Saul, instead, becomes the recipient of the answer to Stephen's prayer, obtaining the mercy this "chief sinner" did not deserve. 

When Jesus prophesied that His Followers would be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the world, it didn't make sense. Sure, those first two were no problem, but Jews would never choose to go to Samaria...except now in Acts 8, they didn't have a choice. The persecution would drive them where they would have never gone on their own. And that young man who was the recipient of Stephen's final prayer? He would become Paul, the man chosen to carry the message to the Jews AND the Gentiles...the one who opened the doors to the "ends of the world."

Augustine said, "if Stephen had not prayed, the church would not have had Paul."

See, Stephen saw Jesus, but Jesus saw us. The "fairy tale" had to end because though great things were happening in Jerusalem, the Savior didn't just come for the people there. There was a bigger picture than even Stephen could have understood...but having seen Jesus, he was submitted to whatever his role would be in pressing the Gospel forward.

And so it is with us. When we see the real Jesus, we will be sold out completely. The same Jesus who watched Stephen take his final breath is watching what we do with ours now. The same Jesus who stood to welcome the first martyr will be there to welcome us when it's our time to go home. In my last moments before I meet Him face to face I want to know that I was a good steward of this Gospel that has been handed down through the generations to me. I want to know that I passed the torch on as well. I want to know that my prayers weren't just for me, but for everyone, including my enemies. 

Being Kingdom minded forces us to think beyond ourselves, it takes our right to victimhood and pettiness away, because someone is depending on us keeping our eyes on Jesus no matter what. Maybe that's why we pray for our enemies-because perhaps, they will run the next leg of the marathon and we just can't see it yet.