How spiritually mature am I? / Hebrews 5:11-6:12

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Life is a vapor. Very soon your mist will fade away from this earth and you will stand before God. On that day, you will receive complete clarity about your spiritual condition.
My goal this morning is to make sure that day holds no surprises for you. It is far better to know where you stand spiritually today, than to be surprised on the day you stand before God.
So for our brief time together, I challenge you to let go of distractions and open your heart to the Holy Sprit. Would you echo the prayer offered by David in Psalm 139?
23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 See if there is any offensive way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
If you’re willing, this passage will answer that prayer. Our text today will provide three answers to the question, how spiritually mature am I.
Option 1: I'm spiritually immature.
Hebrews 5:11 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.
The author of Hebrews wants to take his listeners deeper into the ocean of God’s truth. But his crowd doesn’t have enough oxygen in the tank. The problem is not the teachers inability to teach, but the listeners lack of interest in listening. Like an un-useful knife, they have become dull.
Part of the tragedy of their condition is that they became dull of hearing. They used to be hungry for God’s word. They used to be interested in Christian community. But they’ve drifted into apathy. Their pastor sees who they ought to be and it makes him sad. By this time, they should be leading a bridge group. By this time, they should be representing Jesus in their office. By this time, they should be an example of a loving marriage before their children. Instead, they are the children. Spiritually, they are babies.
It is possible to belong to Ironbridge church 38 of our 39 years, and still be a spiritual baby. For new believers to be longing for the milk of God’s word is beautiful. But for a believer of many years to still be asking for the milk bottle is inappropriate.
So what does the author mean with the word image of “milk”? To know the difference, let’s look at solid food.
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.
Our passage doesn’t say that solid food is knowing greek and Hebrew. Our passage doesn’t say that solid food is understanding the intricacies of the book of Revelation. The solid food that the mature enjoy is putting what they learn from the word into practice. If you have a pen, I encourage you to highlight the words “trained” and “practice.” The difference of being a spiritual infant and a spiritual grandparent is your willingness to practice the word of God. And as you do, your power of discernment will grow.
When you go into Kroger next door to look for coffee, it’s incredible to see the amount of options. If you read the bags you will see that each bag has a list of 3-4 flavors. In the world of specialty coffee there is a practice called, cupping. Roasters will place unlabeled mugs of different coffees on the table and tasters will write down the flavor profiles they experience. Their discernment is trained and precise. Imagine that you invited someone to cupping who’s never tasted coffee. In the midst of the specialty drinks, you place McDonalds cup of Joe. Not only would they not be able to tell the difference, they may prefer the McDonalds!
Spiritually, some of us need to grow up. Can you explain each line of the constitution, but when someone asks you about your faith, you got nothing? Can you lead a business to new levels of economic health, while your family remains spiritually stagnant?
Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to be a child. At least you are a child of God. But we don’t expect you to remain a child. “A child is a very beautiful object, an infant is one of the loveliest sights under heaven; but if, after twenty years, your child was still an infant, it would be a dreadful trial to you.” Charles Spurgeon And all the parents said… amen. My son, Levi is beginning to learn a handful of words, but he can’t speak sentences. One of his favorite words is DOG DOG. Last week for mothers day we went to Maymont park to look at animals. To Levi, the goats were DOG DOG. Chickens were DOG DOG. Horses were big DOG DOG.
For babies, lack of discernment is cute. For Christians, lack of discernment is tragic.
6:1 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.
Both Judaism and Christianity share similar foundations of faith. The list here is like the ABC’s. We can’t be saved by self help. We receive salvation through trust in God. We proudly associate ourselves with the church through baptism. We appoint leaders and pray for one another. God has justice and hope waiting for us just around the corner.
These are the foundations. The author is not instructing us to destroy and replace the foundation. Instead, he invites us to build upon the foundation.
This morning we celebrated graduates. They deserve to be honored because of their amazing accomplishments. But imagine that one of their sentences read, “He graduated from Motaoca high school. And he learned his ABC’s. He plans to spend the next four years studying the ABC’s.” We laugh… We ought to cry. Because this is true of many in the church.
Now obviously, we don’t ditch the abc’s. You can’t write final essay’s without them. But you use the abc’s to advance. Christians, we don’t ditch the gospel, baptism, belonging to a church, prayer. We have no hope without them. But are these foundational practices changing you? Are you being trained by them?
Let today be the day that you build upon the foundation. If option one describes you, commit in your heart that you are going to move on from being a spiritual infant. Through God’s power, you are going to become a mature believer.
Option 2: I've fallen away.
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.
This is one of the most confusing and intense paragraphs in all of the bible. More important than asking, who is he referring to. We would be humble to echo the words of the disciples at the last supper, “Is it I, Lord?”
This group that he is describing seem like Christians on the surface and in their experience. They have heard the good news of the gospel. They’ve gotten a taste of salvation. They’ve experienced the unique power of God’s spirit at work. For a season, they enjoyed the word of God. Amazingly, they have even witnessed the power of God’s kingdom.
Maybe they went to our camps. Went with you to church. Sang with passion. Saw a miracle. Had a prayer answered. And then… they fell away.
The ESV study bible describes falling away as, “ a sustained, committed rejection of Christ and a departure from the Christian community.” - Esv study
I cannot think of more vivid language than the words our passage uses. Through their actions, they are telling Jesus that he can go to the grave again. They haven’t forgotten God, they disdain him.
I want you to picture that Jesus is standing in-between you and a lifestyle of sin that you desire to live. When you see his eyes and look at the scars in his hands. Does it make you want to say, “Jesus, I am weak. Thank you for standing in my way. I want you. I choose you.” Or do you continuously say, “Jesus, get out of my way. You’re blocking me from the life I want.” If so, what you’re really saying is, “Jesus, I’d like for you to be nailed to that tree long enough for me to enjoy my sin.” If this is you, you are in serious spiritual danger.
7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. 8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
When Jordyn and I moved into our home, the company put fresh turf on the hard, rocky, sandy Chester soil. For the first few months, it looked beautiful. And then, it died. Now all that remains is a yard full of weeds. Recently, our irrigation system was fixed. What should have been a happy moment, grass being watered, made we want to cry. I was paying for my weeds to be watered.
If you’re not careful, church can become a sprinkler system that’s just watering weeds. You listen with your dull hearing and you leave unchanged. Some hear the same message and their life results in love and peace. You receive the blessings of God, but your life is like a field of thorns. You are near to being cursed.
But thank God for the word, “near.” For everyone with a beating heart, there is still hope. But you may say, didn’t this passage start with the word, “impossible?”
Before we believe that all things are possible with God. We need to believe that it is impossible to transform ourselves. Did you notice that this paragraph used the word “repentance” and not “salvation.” As long as you are living in contempt toward Jesus, it is impossible to repent. Because he is your only source of hope. You cannot have a hammer and nails in your hands while having an open heart toward God. You can repent or you can rebel, but you can’t do both at the same time. Drop the hammer and the nails. Stop pushing Jesus out of the way to get to the life you really want. Return to him.
This passage reminds me of the story of the rich young ruler. There was a moral man who wanted to follow Jesus. Through the Ten Commandments, Jesus showed this young man that he couldn’t save himself. In sadness, the young man walked away. The disciples saw this scene unfold. Stunned by Jesus’ willingness to let this man walk away, they asked, “Then who can be saved?” 27 But he said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
I want to speak directly to those of you who have watched loved ones walk away from the faith. Your children and grandchildren started strong. Just like you, they experienced the goodness of the gospel and the people of God. So you start each day wrecked by the confusion of why they would walk away. You try to shower them with love and truth, but it just produces more weeds and harder soil. You know it is impossible for them to save themselves. You must also embrace that it is impossible for you to save them. But don’t lose hope of this truth - with God all things are possible. Even the salvation of the name you pray for every day.
Option 3: I'm spiritually mature.
9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.‌
The author is not warning the congregation to judge them. He warns them to protect them. In the same way that a child holds on tightly the closer you to to a ledge. The author wants us to hold on tightly to our heavenly father. And he notices that many in the congregation are doing just that.
He sees the evidence of genuine salvation for the case of many. And he’s not the only one who sees their fruit-fullness - God sees. Christians, the fact that you are covered in the righteous robe of Jesus doesn’t mean that he is blind to all of the work you are doing in his house. The righteous robe of Jesus is not a cloak of invisibility. God sees your heart of service. God sees your love for other Christians. God sees you Christian and he is proud of you.
Ironbridge, it is an honor to pastor at this church. You are devoted to one another. You are willing to put your comforts aside to reach others. Some of you pray for us every day. Others are serving in unseen ways that benefit all of us weekly. Thank you. We love you. And we need you. In fact, you are needed for the application point of this message.
As all of us have listened this morning, how would you answer the question, how spiritually mature am I? Are you spiritually immature? Have you fallen away? Are you spiritually mature? Here is what you need to do if you’re in the first two categories.
Imitate the faith of mature believers.
11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Notice that he says, “each one of you.” Some of them are mature. Some of them have assurance. He wants all to share in the full assurance of hope. God didn’t give us this intense warning to hurt our assurance, but to give us assurance. So how can we experience deeper assurance? The answer is surprising.
You would think he’d say, believe more. Instead he teaches us to observe more. Observe and imitate mature Christians in our community. That will inspire you to not be spiritually lazy.
Little babies don’t learn to talk and walk by sitting alone in a room meditating all day. Without examples they wouldn’t make it. They need parental figures to observe as they eat and play. Through inspiration, their stumbling and babbling will turn into full sentences and running through the hallways.
If a child from bridge kids asked you to follow you around this summer to learn the Christian faith would they learn anything of value?
If the answer is yes, then good news. We need you. Not because you’re perfect, but because you have faith. Mature believers, you are being watched and you have no idea how influential your lives are upon those who are still growing up spiritually. You can’t save those who have fallen away, but your life can point them to the savior.
If the answer is no, then find people to imitate. I am doing this all the time. I want to imitate the faith it took for Michael to move his family to Chester to pastor Ironbridge. I want to imitate the warmth Debbie Starnes has in hospitality. I want to imitate the heart of humility and service that I see in Paul Jr.
The best place for this to actually happen is bridge groups. In bridge groups, you will be surrounded by believers that are at different levels of spiritual maturity. You will be lifted up when you stumble. You will be inspired when you’re bored. You will be sought when you’re falling away. Commit as a family to join a bridge group this summer.
As we crawl, walk, and run through this life, I am confident that if we stick together, through faith and patience we will inherit the promises.
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