01 - The Milk And Meat Of The Word 2008

Heb. 5: 11 ”We have much to say…but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. 12In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

14But the meat of the Word is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

6: 1Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”

Notice that Chapter 6 begins with a “therefore.”

What had preceded it was the Apostle’s discussion of milk and meat, and the reader’s inability to eat meat or to teach the Word due to their unfortunate need to be taught again the milk issues. “Slow learners” they are called.

First, what is the “milk of the Word?”

The elementary teachings of the Christian faith as found in Heb.6:1-2.

The “milk doctrines” that are foundational to the faith are:

“…repentance from dead works (the attempt at salvation through good deeds), and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.”

The Message Bible puts it this way:

“So come on, let's leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ.

You don’t need further instruction about repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. God helping us, we'll stay true to all that. But there's so much more. Let's get on with it!”—Heb. 6

Notice: Their lack of understanding of the milk issues of the faith was affecting them in two ways:

They were not able to grow into maturity

They were held back from operating in their calling to teach.

So the milk of the word is comprised of the foundational teachings of the Christian faith. Until that foundation is laid, it’s useless trying to build the rest of the structure!

Another way to look at the “milk” teachings is to consider what milk is to an infant:

A baby must first nurse on the milk of the mother in order to grow the teeth necessary to eat meat.

Milk is that for which the baby has been required nothing. The mother has done it all. She has eaten the food necessary to prepare the milk. The baby must only nurse. So the milk of the Word is learning those things Christ has done for us.

Based on this, some of the “milk truths” are that He died for me,

He delivered me from the power of sin, He seated me in heavenly places in Christ, He provided me with the presence of the Spirit dwelling within, and so on.

Like the child’s milk is prepared by the mother requiring nothing of him, so these are the things Jesus did for us, requiring nothing from us. We must “nurse” on these truths when we are saved.

The milk of the word is called “sincere” milk.

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word…”

This means it is received with a pure heart; without hypocrisy.

This is why 1Pet. 2:2 is preceded by 2:1

“…laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking… 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.”

It’s almost as if Peter is calling for a diaper change before drinking the milk of the Word.

Principle: In order to be properly fed the Word of God, our hearts must be cleansed.

The milk of the word is the precursor to becoming “skilled” in the scriptures, which means “skilled in how to live righteously, in conformity with God’s will.”

So the writer of Hebrews says those who are still nursing on milk and have not yet laid the foundations of their faith are:

“…unskilled in the doctrine of righteousness (of conformity to the divine will in purpose, thought, and action), for he is a mere infant [not able to talk yet]!”—Heb. 5:12

Those nursing on milk have still not learned the ins and outs of Christian living; they are easily taken advantage of, easily tripped up. Paul described the spiritually immature as “children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men…” Eph 4

Another aspect of the milk of the word is:

You will choke on the meat of the Word until you understand the milk of the Word.

Scripture is taught “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.” Isaiah 28:10

One truth leads to another, one stone is placed on another.

I will never understand Algebra until I understand simple math. Likewise, spiritual truth begins with foundations that must be grasped before moving on to meatier truths.

Before receiving the meat, they need enough knowledge of the milk of the Word that the meat will become digestible.

Jesus knew full well whether His hearers could handle meat or only milk. He told the disciples,

“I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes,

the Spirit of Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is.”—John 16:12

There are things God wants us to know that we simply cannot handle until we have fed on the milk of the word in sincerity and had the spiritual foundation of Christ laid in our souls.

Though the Corinthian church was loaded with the gifts of the Spirit, they were very immature,

which frustrated Paul’s desire to feed them the meat of the Word. Listen to his exasperation as He writes to them in 1 Cor. 3

1-4 “But for right now, friends, I'm completely frustrated by your unspiritual dealings with each other and with God. You're acting like infants in relation to Christ, capable of nothing much more than nursing at the breast. Well, then, I'll nurse you since you don't seem capable of anything more.

For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses].

For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?

When one of you says, "I'm on Paul's side," and another says, "I'm for Apollos," aren't you being totally infantile?

 5-9Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us—servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment. I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow. It's not the one who plants or the one who waters who is at the center of this process but God, who makes things grow. Planting and watering are menial servant jobs at minimum wages. What makes them worth doing is the God we are serving. You happen to be God's field in which we are working.”

Next, Paul uses an illustration to help us understand milk and meat, and why the foundation must be properly laid.

 9-15 To put it another way, you are God's house. According to the grace bestowed on me, like a skillful architect and master builder I laid [the] foundation, and now another [man] is building upon it. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. “

Why is the foundation that comes from the milk of the word so important? And why must we be certain what we build on top of that foundation? Listen again:

“Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you'll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won't get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn't, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won't be torn out; you'll survive—but just barely.”—1 Cor. 3:1-14

Principle: FAITH THAT FIZZLES AT THE FINISH WAS FAULTY AT THE FIRST.

If you lay a bad foundation, or you build badly on top of your foundation, it will not last through testing. It will crumble under the trials of life.

“If you faint in the day of adversity your strength is small.”—Pr. 24:10

The foundation is laid by learning the milk doctrines, the building atop the foundation is built by growing into maturity through eating the meat of the word and walking in it.

BIBLE TRUTH: The burden of God that we would grow out of infanthood into maturity is all throughout the N.T. The core burden of Paul for the church is that we would grow up. Listen how often the phrase “grow up” or building illustrations are used in the next passages.

5[Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built into a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.”—1 Pet. 2:5

Eph. 2:10 10For we are God's [own] handiwork (His workmanship), recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God planned beforehand for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].”

2: 20-21 ”You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone.

21In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously, and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord. 12His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward building up Christ's body (the church)…”

4:13-16 13 “[That it might develop] until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the comprehension of the [full and accurate] knowledge of the Son of God, that [we might arrive] at really mature manhood (the completeness of personality which is nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection), the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.

    14 So then, we may no longer be children, tossed [like ships] to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, [the prey of] the cunning and cleverness of unscrupulous men, [gamblers engaged] in every shifting form of trickery in inventing errors to mislead.

    15 Rather, let our lives lovingly express truth [in all things, speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly]. Enfolded in love, let us grow up in every way and in all things into Him Who is the Head, [even] Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

    16 For because of Him the whole body (the church, in all its various parts), closely joined and firmly knit together by the joints and ligaments with which it is supplied, when each part [with power adapted to its need] is working properly [in all its functions], grows to full maturity, building itself up in love.”

Summary:

The milk of the word is comprised of the elementary teachings of the Christian faith as found in Heb.6:1-2.

The milk of the word is received with a cleansed heart, w/o hypocrisy.

Those yet nursing on the milk of the word are “unskilled” in Christian living.

Until we understand milk doctrines, we will choke on meat doctrines.

Next time: The meat of the word: What it is and what it accomplishes