Baby Talk

I was reading and doing research on teaching, and communicating ideas, and ran across an article on Family education on Teaching your baby to speak.

Science and education, has proven, that in order for baby's ever to speak, they must be allowed to speak and hear you speak, to formulate language.
Common Sense, huh?

The article was summarized with the following statement.
"Talk a lot to your baby if you can, but don't monopolize the conversation. Remember to give your infant a chance to talk while you listen."

Why do we ever suppose that our heavenly Father, would have ever intended the body of Christ to come together, and be silent while only one person speaks.

Pastor, Teacher, you wouldn't do that with your own children, so why would you dare do that with God's children?

I know as a Pastor and Teacher, I learned a lot from others, as I moved into "Dialegomai," the word so often mistranslated in English to preach which really means to discuss. This was the tradition of the Apostles, not our tradition of men.

Pastors and Teachers we don't hold the corner on God or truth, and it is very prideful and arrogant of us to think so.
I know, I have been there and done that.
I was miserable as a Pastor, as a Teacher, I was miserable in my own spiritual growth.

We should rightfully should be miserable when we are creating children that will have a speech impediment!

Doesn't it only make common sense that our Heavenly Father who has given EACH of us, this new birth in Jesus Christ, where we all start as babies, unable to barely walk, only making non-nonsensical sounds, still needing care, that we as Pastors and Teachers allow all the body of Christ to mature, to grow up, to become all that God has given them to be in Jesus Christ. To become in essence - Pastors!
Well just like for a baby, they have the same need and we need to treat the body of Christ with the same respect as we do our own children born to us.

I have had a friend for many years now, that when I first was told by the Holy Spirit to change to do things God's way rather than mine, a huge transformation for him took place as well as for I, once I listened to God, and begin to listen to others.
He was always quiet, never said anything, never asked questions, he would just sit their listening when I preached or taught at church or Sunday School or the Youth group, as was expected of him, I might add.
Once the door was open for Him to speak in open dialectic fellowship, He began to grow as did I. He had and has a lot of nuggets of godly wisdom to share with the body of Christ.
Did he speak perfectly about Jesus in the beginning? No, but is He learning to do so now? Yes, exactly like myself. None of us are perfect in speech or our deeds, but we would think so, with the practice of church today.

I believe Jesus is the Head of the church. Jesus would never design a time that we come together as His body, that He would tell the one acting as an earthly parent of new born babies or even that of the full grown adults, to tell His children to sit down and be quiet, and don't dare speak. Our practice in many churches today, relays that message to those sitting in the pews.
Nor would Jesus bring together those that are mature, and tell them they have nothing to add to the lesson, He would listen.

You know, Sunday School was largely an attempt to return to early Apostolic practices but it has failed because it too remains yet organized, planned and supervised. It's not spontaneous fellowship, it's not something we are part of, but something we go to.

It has become a place to come together that it has become usually no more than a microcosm of church service.

One person, leads, he uses a book or lesson approved by those in charge, and very little becomes a part of the discussion or time together outside of that parameter.

Oh! you may talk and ask questions, but we are so ingrained with listening and not speaking very few ever do. They are careful not to do so, or just don't know what to say, or they are afraid it might sound like babbling or they may not sound spiritual like the leaders.
Often times, we won't give them the opportunity to speak about something that may be weighing heavily on their minds and hearts on truth, and their fellowship in Christ, as it would get us off "our lesson."

Well that's where we all began, just babbling as babies do.
So be courageous and babble or speak, and teachers and pastors let them talk and let us learn to listen.
Let's get back to practice the way God designed it both for His heavenly children and our earthly children.

We wouldn't treat own children in the way that we do so many of the children of God. So why would our Father in heaven have such a practice for us to treat his children that way?

Our Heavenly Father would not ever be so cruel just as we wouldn't to our own. We need to ask ourselves, are we painting the right picture of Family, when we do so?

The church is in need of return to the traditions of the Apostles and Scripture not men that came after them, (The Reformationist Martin Luther by the way, is the one that said you can't have a 'church service" unless their is a sermon)
There is nothing in Scripture that states what Luther taught and that has so brain washed the church to make this our sole practice of the time we spend together.

Let's hear God speaking to His body, He has the sense and love of any good and true parent.

He allows His babies to speak as well as those of us, who may think we are the parents in the body.
This is what He designed for our times of coming together.
So, we can listen, speak and learn. Just as we did as a baby. Just as babies do to develop proper speech. Just as parents do, to assist them. They stop and listen.
They don't put their hand over their mouth, and say, you don't make any sense, or what your saying isn't correctly, grammatically formulated, so be quiet.

I looked for one scripture that admonishes 'the church" to preach a sermon in fellowship or to come together to hear one, there is not one, yet I counted TWENTY THREE Scriptures and there may be more, on what as Christians we do in fellowship with "one to another." Look them up.
If you need, I will be glad to mail you a list of scripture references.
They all are pertaining to the subject "one to another."

I have not yet found one that tell us to do as common church practice is as so many believe it is suppose to be at present. This is found especially in certain circles of churches and denominations.
There are many like myself, that found the riches of organic church and are practicing such now and are letting the children grow up, and funny thing, it's a joy to see them grow up, but even more, because you grow up with them.

Let's hear Paul speak on this when writing to the church of Corinth, we must read those "23" scriptures on "one to another" to understand this passage in light of all these other twenty three. This is what is called reading the Bible in context by the way.

Paul was not making a negative statement or a statement about what was going on at the church of Corinth, in the scripture to follow, but he was stating this is what fellowship was all about. How do we know that? How can we be sure? Easy, by the context of all the other scriptures that tell us what true assembly is- "one to another".
Thus Paul lays down some ways it can be achieved as well.

What he was criticizing at the church at Corinth was that there was a church full of babblers. The body was meeting but not for fellowship but just for a few to show off how spiritual they were. When in fact they were showing they were still babies, carnal yet, he states this in the beginning of His letter to them.
They had not yet learned "the equality of believers."
That speaks to us Pastors and Teacher, when we organize the time for fellowship that is centered around our sermon or lesson for today.
Thus Paul proposes a question as all good, dialectic speakers do. If you follow Paul, he used the common method of the day, for individuals to arrive at agreement in truth.
Dialectic is based on a dialogue between two or more people who may hold differing views, yet wish to pursue truth by seeking agreement with one another.
So here what Paul was saying in the verse in 1 Corinthians 14:26- So now that I have corrected you, you will now ask me, well if we aren't doing it right, then how do we do it, Paul?

Paul is not making a statement of not what to do, after the "What then brethren", this is a dialectic statement as a question, then he makes the statement after that one, to what the solution to their fellowship time together was to be, to avoid the problem they were already in.

Corinth had gone haywire where only one or the few monopolized the time of the body coming together, the Babblers.
Children all the same, but that is where they were stuck and because of this supernatural gifting, they were trying to make everyone else believe they were the parents, the only one's with true spiritual faculty.
Boy, did Paul turn that upside down on them.

Where was the head, the eye, the arm, the leg?
Answer he made clear earlier.
Read the verse in light now, of the twenty three other verses on "one to another."

What then, brethren?
When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification. {1 Cor 14:26 RSV}
See if he was saying only one thing a lesson (sermon) or one thing a revelation, or one thing,tongue, or on thing when we meet, interpretation, he would have said so, but he makes it clear by adding the last sentence, that our coming together is encompassing all these and more, for he use LET ALL THINGS...that's permissive not restrictive...be done for edification.

He is not condemning open organic fellowship, he is naturally advocating it.

Just like we naturally advocate and practice it as parents for our children, Our heavenly father advocates and wants us to practice it as His children.

"Talk a lot to your baby if you can, but don't monopolize the conversation. Remember to give your infant a chance to talk while you listen."

So, now how do we incorporate that, for our love of God's children? First off we don't fear that which is natural for children, or God's children, let them speak.
Second, we can either force a change (bad move, makes you an authoritarian more then we have already been acting as), leave where we are at, and form a new church
(I did that, but I wasn't full time, only filling in my last pastoralship), or ask God for wisdom, especially if we have people we love in our church and wouldn't want to abandon them. Offend some for the change, yes it is going to happen, but are we more worried about pleasing men or God?
Here is what I would do now, if in the position of many Godly Pastors who want to do what God would have them do. Then slowly you can wean the children from the bottle and they will get up, take a few steps and fall down, they will babble at first, but then as they hear you and others, they will begin to finally speak like adults, just like we do as children growing up. Try starting with a few pauses in your sermon pose some questions to the body. This a good start to moving the body to share in the fellowship of "one to another" and a better proven method of teaching anyway. Don't say a word, wait until someone answers, then listen to them. If God gave you something to be said that day, believe me, He will get said what He wants the body to hear, even if your sermon goes south.
The question that has to be faced is, whose church is it anyway?

Dr. J.