Exalted by Maturity
Notes
Transcript
Announcements
Meal on Wednesday at 6:00pm
Reading: Hebrews 5:11-6:3
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
12 For though 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,
13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do if God permits.
Prayer
Savannah has always been our “problem child.” I don’t mean behaviors - she is really sweet girl. I mean medical problems. She’s had heart problems, brain swelling, ear problems. She’s been through a lot. Praise God she’s not had it as bad as some have.
One of the most scary problems developed over her first year of life. Savannah was a big girl at birth - over 9 pounds! She was above the growth chart for girls, and was near the top of the boys chart too!
Now newborns are kind of like pickles - they swell up in the womb, but when they come out they lose a lot of water weight. Babies frequently lose up to 20% of their birth weight in the first few weeks before they start growing again. Savannah, on the other hand, lost close to half her weight.
She couldn’t keep food down. We thought it was acid reflux - James struggled with that. We thought she needed a different formula. Then another. Then another. Nothing helped. She would not keep food down. She was constantly spitting up, and what food didn’t come back up went straight through her. She was malnourished, no matter how much food we gave her. It was scary.
That’s not to mention the guilt Carrie and I felt. How could we not take care of her? What was wrong with us as parents to let our child starve? We tried all kinds of things to help. Finally, we found a solution. She slowly started gaining weight (staying well below the curve but gaining something at least).
Turns out the problem was not what we were doing. The problem was with Savannah’s system. I’m going to over-simplify this because I’m out of my depths here, but basically her stomach could not absorb protein normally. Proteins, as I understand them, come in long chains, 50-100 or more linked together. Savannah couldn’t handle those long chains. She had to have the proteins broken up into tiny chains, with only 2-3 links each. Only with the food she could absorb could Savannah get the nourishment she needed.
There are too many people in our churches that are spiritually like Savannah was physically - incapable of receiving the nourishment they need. They are underdeveloped in the faith. The author of Hebrews describes them well:
12 For though 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,
13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
They cannot handle the solid food. Instead, they can only take in the milk - the basic principles of God. They cannot stomach the “good stuff” because they haven’t matured enough. They should have matured - he says that they ought to be teachers by now. But they haven’t.
What is it that makes them so underdeveloped? How can someone be such a spiritual infant when they ought to be a spiritual adult? He tells us in 5:11
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
The person writing to the Hebrews wants to go deeper. He wants to explore the depths of Christ’s priesthood and what it means for us. But he can’t. They can’t handle the truth. They are dull of hearing. It’s not that they don’t hear. It’s that they have stopped listening.
When We Stop Listening to God, We Immediately Become Malnourished
When We Stop Listening to God, We Immediately Become Malnourished
The word dull here has the connotation of laziness.
Sure, maybe they are aware of God’s words in the Scripture. Perhaps they read the Bible every day. You can be all caught up on your daily Bible readings and still be dull of hearing.
Sure, they may come to church often. Perhaps they show up every time the doors are open. You can be in the sanctuary in the middle of the service and still be dull of hearing.
Being dull of hearing doesn’t mean you don’t hear at all. It just means you’re not paying attention. You read through the Bible reading with a goal of checking the box rather than checking your heart. You come to service thinking more about what else there is to do than the God you’re supposed to be serving. You go through all the motions of biblical faith without any consequence whatsoever.
The dull of hearing are an ever-present reality among the people of God.
4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.
2 “Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see, but see not, who have ears to hear, but hear not, for they are a rebellious house.
4 You have neither listened nor inclined your ears to hear, although the Lord persistently sent to you all his servants the prophets,
When we are dull of hearing, it prevents us from growing in Christ.
We Cannot Mature without Carefully Hearing God’s Words
We Cannot Mature without Carefully Hearing God’s Words
That’s why Jesus stresses so much the need to hear, coupled with action.
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”
Hearing is crucial to faith. If we do not hear, if we will not incline our ears to carefully and intently listen to God’s words, faith will never mature.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
So how do we develop this kind of maturity? We don’t. Well, we do, but we don’t. Consider the parable:
1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
There is an obvious lesson - without God our effort is meaningless. It’s a waste of time. If God is not with you, you are wasting your time doing whatever you try to do. Anything good you do is because of him.
But there is another lesson in Psalm 127: the laborers are still called to labor, even when God builds the house. The watchman is still charged with keeping watch, even when God watches over the city. Though God does the work through us, he uses our work in the process. We must apply ourselves to hearing him.
But we also must apply ourselves to obeying him.
We Cannot Mature without Constantly Applying God’s Words
We Cannot Mature without Constantly Applying God’s Words
It’s not enough just to hear his words. We must also do them. Consider Hebrews 5:14:
14 But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Notice how this author describes maturity. It’s not how long you’ve been in the church that makes you mature. It’s not how old you are, or how long you’ve been a believer. It’s not how many classes you’ve attended, or taught. It’s not what kind of training or education you’ve had. It’s not your attendance record, your tithing record, or anything else that makes you mature in the faith. What marks the mature believer in Christ is discernment. The mature Christian knows between right and wrong, good and evil.
How does he know the difference? He knows the difference because he has been trained to know the difference. He has listened carefully to God’s words, so he is able to apply them with consistency and precision. He can echo the words of Psalm 119:160
160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
So what do we need to do? We need to grow up! We need to listen and heed God’s words. The author of Hebrews says it this way:
1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
3 And this we will do if God permits.
3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,
4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,
7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
10 Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
11 For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.