From Milk to Solid Food (Meat), growing in Spiritual Maturity

From Milk to Solid Food (Meat), growing in Spiritual Maturity 4/27/25 Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use (or practice) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Last week we discussed the transformation of the disciples after seeing the resurrected Jesus. They went from confused and bewildered doubters to men of astounding faith and courage. This radical transformation is overwhelming evidence of the resurrection, the disciples saw the resurrected Christ and their lives were changed. But there’s more to this story than seeing the risen Jesus. The second part of this transformation was the filling of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, which empowered them with unity and purpose, but have you thought about the 40 days they spent with Jesus before His ascension? There is very little told of this time, but I’m certain the conversations they may have had were anything but dull. Imagine the questions they must have had, the questions you would have had? They probably learned more in those 40 days than the 3 years spent with Him during His earthly ministry. I’m certain this period, along with seeing their Lord brutally beaten and crucified causing them to scatter and lose their faith, seeing the risen Jesus 3 days later and finally receiving the Holy Spirit is what caused them to grow from boys to men in their faith. Yet there’s another period, that I think most of us miss, it’s the 10-day delay between receiving the Holy Spirit and Christ’s ascension. Have you ever thought about why there was a delay? Why didn’t God just give them the Holy Spirit at the ascension? Jesus was now gone, but He’d promised a Comforter/Advocate/Helper was coming, John 14:26,27. Those 10 days for them must have been long and filled with anxiety, but as they waited for the promise to come God was teaching them patience and their faith was being stretched yet again. God doesn’t leave anything to waste, during our times of waiting we think we are accomplishing little, but He’s working out necessary character in us, such as patience, to move us to the next stage of our development. During these times of waiting on God’s promises we can grow in dependency on Jesus, we can learn to listen to that still small voice and our faith will grow. These times of delay when we think God has forgotten us will certainly test us, but if we wait patiently and trust Him, they will help our faith become more complete. Learning to wait patiently on the promises of God is essential for our growth and, I believe, our roots will grow deeper during these seasons. Just like this 10-day delay is often overlooked our times of waiting are sometimes overlooked as necessary growing seasons and at the time they may seem pointless. We may say; why the delay Lord, why can’t you answer my prayer now, why can’t I have what I want now? We can certainly see some similarities here to the disciple’s character prior to seeing the risen Jesus. Are we still just boys and girls in Christ? I fear in many cases we are just that! We’re living in times where we need spiritual doctors in the faith, but most Christians are still stuck in primary school, getting held back going through the same grade repeatedly where progress is slow or nonexistent. I believe we’re experiencing a faith crisis in the Western Church today and I believe it’s because we are mostly made up of babes. But why? Could it be as simple as learning to wait on the Lord? So how do we grow into giants of the faith, or at least adults, that I believe we’re all capable of becoming and don’t think for a minute that the greats in the faith were more capable of attaining faith than you or I. As we all know most of those chosen by God to do great things were just ordinary men and women, in fact many were very broken people just like us. Here are what I believe to be some of the culprits of why we’re mostly immature believers: · Culture has infiltrated the Church and it now reflects our culture more than it does Christ. Personal character such as: self-centered or egocentric, anti-social (even though immersed in social media), not capable of intimate relationships, lack of love and empathy, we don’t seek Truth or reject it or we just make up our own, etc. · We’ve become weak minded and lack perseverance; we give up to easily on growing in our faith. · We’re distracted by many things, such as Martha, but not taking time to be with our Lord, like Mary or even taking time for others. · Most adults are nothing more than children in grown bodies, not just spiritually but emotionally and mentally. Disfunction has now become the new normal. · Pastors either don’t preach the Word of God accurately or don’t teach the application of the Word, or both. (story of Mr. Garcia) · Most believers don’t take spiritual growth seriously. · Grace/Love has been misused in the church community to where sin is no longer taken seriously by which we’ve lost our reverence of God and this has made us irrelevant. · We don’t spend time in God’s Word or take it seriously or we interpret it to fit our world view. At first glance Paul’s use in his writings of ‘milk and solid food’ seem to be strange metaphors which he uses to describe the believer’s spiritual development. But once looking more closely into the process of a child’s digestive development the similarities are amazing. The mother’s milk is essential in the health of the baby, it gives them all the necessary nutrients that is required for healthy development and it’s very necessary for the baby’s immune system. At around four to five months babies begin to transition to soft food, but remain on the mother’s milk for up to a year or more and as teeth develop babies are moved on to more solid food. Like babies we all differ on how long we’re on milk before moving on to more solid food. What are some of the complications of moving on to solid food before the baby’s ready? They can reject it by spitting up, they could get a tummy ache, develop rashes and they could develop allergies. The lesson here is that they’re not ready for solid food and their bodies will reject it so they must wait until they’re digestive system is more developed to accept solid food. As mentioned, this digestive development is very similar to our spiritual growth. I believe one of the most over looked reasons of why we have so many immature believers today is because we fail to teach application. Before we can move from milk to more solid food, we must learn to apply what we already know, not unlike a baby that can’t hold down solid food before they’re ready. Another commonly used metaphor that we can apply to spiritual growth is that of a baby learning to crawl before they can walk and learn how to walk before they can run. Common sense, right? Apparently, in a spiritual sense, among many Christians this is not so. Even many of those that do read the Word fail at this, it’s the application that’s missing. I believe this one verse tells us how essential it is that we develop according to God’s provincial methods and according to His timing in each of our lives. I’ve glanced over this scripture before, but I haven’t seen the important message here until now: Hebrews 5:14 “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use (or practice) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Spiritual maturity comes through the exercise of knowledge, we must be doers of the word otherwise we may become entrapped into what, I believe, Paul is describing as the last days church (2 Tim. 3:1-9), but more specifically: 2 Timothy 3:7 “Always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth (Jesus?).” God will not magically bless us with maturity we must go through His process of obtaining knowledge, and then by steps of obedience, and then through application. Our application will lead to faith which leads to more knowledge which leads to more obedience and application. Get my point? It’s a graduation process from one level of maturity to another. Without application we’ll will never come into fullness and completeness in Christ: Ephesians 4:13 (NLT) This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. 1 John 2:5 “But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him.” Ephesians 4:14 “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching.” “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Being willing is not enough; we must do,” Leonardo da Vinci. Kinetic energy vs potential energy definition: Kinetic energy is the energy of motion, while potential energy is stored energy based on an object's position. These two forms of energy can transform into each other; for example, potential energy can convert to kinetic energy when an object moves. Get it? We must move once knowing what is right. In the following verses Paul is in a continual state of turning potential energy into kinetic, or in a spiritual sense, he’s applying his knowledge (potential energy) and converting it into action by applying the word (kinetic energy): Philippians 3:12-14 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. And then James puts it this way: James 1:21-25 Therefore, lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. So, what is this solid food or meat? We must be cautious with learning to quickly just as babies that aren’t fully developed can’t digest solid food, it would be very harmful for them. Each of us are uniquely made and certainly learn at different levels and have differing abilities. The catch here, and this is essential, is that we must apply what we’re learning, as the writer suggests when he uses the phrase ‘of use,’ other translations say ‘practice,’ I think this is a better term. We must learn to walk well before we can run otherwise, we’ll find ourselves at risk of falling and getting hurt. Simply put, our Christian life must be one of application, not one of solely learning. We will not develop correctly and become the mature believers that we’re meant to be if we go outside God’s process of development. DON’T be impatient, but be patient with our growth. Love God, dwell in His presence and don’t rush in otherwise we may find ourselves getting discouraged at why we aren’t growing as we should. TRUST GOD and His process. The Holy Spirit, through both Paul and Peter, uses these metaphors for a reason, our spiritual development apparently is like a baby’s digestive system, so we can’t rush things. Bask in Jesus love now, enjoy being a child. The meat will come, but we’ll never stop being His child, just a more mature one. God is good, His timing and process are perfect, trust them. Wait on the Lord and while you wait serve others. Isaiah 26:8 “Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.” Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” James 1:3-4 “Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Then when we’ve done all that is asked of us through our obedience watch and see the movement of the Lord in your life, He will move mountains for you and will grow you up to become a giant in the faith or, at the very least, a grown adult that is complete, lacking nothing. What steps can we take to grow in our relationship with Christ and in our faith, to move from milk to solid food so that we aren’t merely hearers, but doers? · If we are to move from milk to meat we must develop our spiritual digestive system, to do so we must apply the knowledge we’ve gained, otherwise we risk becoming like Pharisees that were unloving, conceded and extremely self-righteous. · Reading the Word is not about gaining knowledge for knowledges sake, but our goal or target is becoming increasingly holy in our behavior, to become more like Jesus in our character. And ultimately desiring our relationship with Him more than anything, to love Him more than self. · If we are to move from babes to adults in the faith we must apply, apply, and apply. Here are just a few things that we must be very cautious and aware of in our pursuit of knowledge without the application of that knowledge: Knowledge can make one arrogant and prideful 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 “Now concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. 2 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.” Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall.” Knowledge, brings judgement James 4:17 “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” We must die before we can fully live, we must be dead to our flesh and its sinfulness. We must be obedient in what we know or we risk being under judgement! We don’t want to become like those pesky Pharisees, always learning but never coming to the true knowledge of Truth, which is found in knowing Jesus and acknowledging Him as Messiah. Giving Jesus lip service is not enough, He must govern our entire life starting with our hearts and then our minds and then it must be put into action and this all comes through being obedient! The risk of remaining unloving or even becoming unloving is very real when we don’t apply what we know to be true. Misc. verses: 1 Corinthians 13:2 “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains,but have not love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:11 “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.” John 4:23, 24 But the hour is coming, AND NOW IS, when the TRUE WORSHIPERS will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.” 2 Corinthians 7:1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Quote from Pastor Afshin Ziafat, Frisco, Texas: “In the Western church, we too often make the mistake that spiritual maturity comes from obtaining more information. We sign up for Bible studies and theological classes to meet this need. While those classes may have much to offer, they don’t necessarily fix the problem of dull hearing. On their own, they don’t move you on to maturity. This is not merely an intellectual or educational issue. The author says the mature are “those who have their powers of discernment TRAINED BY CONSTANT PRACTICE to distinguish good from evil” (Hebrews 5:14). The issue isn’t a lack of knowledge but a lack of practice. Through obedience, we grow into maturity in order to be able to take in solid food. The pathway to Christian maturity isn’t just to become a more educated person, but a more obedient person.” Another concern in the Western Church is what is called Consumer Christianity. We can all be guilty of this and some of our expectations are legit, but most of our critical thinking comes from a perspective of self wants rather than spiritual needs and growth. We are desiring comfort over spiritual development, in essence we want and take, but give very little. Bottom line, as the song goes from Natalie Grand, “We want the healing, but not the Healer.” I believe this is the biggest issue facing the American Church, we want all the blessings of God, but are not willing to place self at the alter of sacrifice. We must rid ourselves of this disease or the Church will face extinction. In fact I believe we are seeing the judgement of God upon the Western Church. But I believe there is hope, we’re seeing a trend of a restructuring, God is demolishing the institution of Church and restoring it to the community of church. Home churches, like ours, are becoming more common. The true people of God want more of Him and to become like Him and less of church superficiality. What are some of the attributes of a believer who is on solid food? · I believe Hebrews 5:14 contains some of it, those who by reason of use (or practice) have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Mature believers have fully developed discernment which comes through obedience and practice and a deep connection to the Holy Spirit. · They are living out holy lives, not perfect, but desiring holiness and not carnality. This is the dividing line between mature and juvenile believers. They are completely sold out for Christ. · They display the fruits of the spirit, demonstrating love to others. Galatians 5:22, 23 · They have moved from the basic knowledge of salvation to the application of that knowledge. Their lives are marked by giving and not receiving, such as a babe where their needs are great and tend to consume. Like parents, they give far more than they take. This is where the Church is lopsided, we need the more mature that give, but instead we have far too many takers. ‘Some Learn and Never Grow,’ the risk of consumer Christianity: “Consumer Christianity refers to a mindset where individuals treat their faith and church experience as commodities to satisfy personal preferences and desires, rather than engaging in a deeper, sacrificial relationship with Christ and the church community. This approach often prioritizes personal satisfaction over genuine discipleship and service.” 3 Signs of Consumer Christianity, Ray Burns

https://onwardinthefaith.com/3-signs-of-consumer-christianity/

Consumers say “I want a church with things I like” Here’s an exhausting (though not exhaustive) list of what people tend to look for:

· The building’s visual appeal · Music · The pastor wears a suit to preach · Bible version · The church’s name · They raise their hands during worship · The pastor makes jokes · Amount of children · Amount of people our own age · The youth pastor is young and relevant · They host fun events · The types of groups offered (youth, singles, women, men, etc.

Yet all those things are based on what we like or don’t like. It’s so tempting to place ourselves in comfort, settling into a place that doesn’t push us like it’s a comfortable chair meant to relax us. Yet biblical truth, not comfort, is what we must always surround ourselves with. “For there will be a time when people will not tolerate sound teaching. Instead, following their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves, because they have an insatiable curiosity to hear new things. And they will turn away from hearing the truth, but on the other hand they will turn aside to myths,” 2 Timothy 4:3-4. · A consumer abandons the people of God; a servant understands they’re surrounded by people just as broken as they are. · A consumer wants to know what they get; a servant wants to serve others for the glory of God. Consumer or servant? “When Christ took the penalty for our sin, He also took our enslavement to following sinful, misleading desires. He set us free so we can pursue God and walk in line with His desires. God doesn’t call us to comfort. He calls us to surround ourselves with biblical truth. He commands us to follow our perfect, wonderful savior alongside imperfect, sinful people who are just like us. And in walking with Christ and His bride, we will love Him even more. However, there is a problem when we want Christ, but not His bride. Christ didn’t die for individuals, nor did He save individual people for them to live better lives on their own. He made us part of a family. There is simply no way to love Christ without loving those He saved, and we can’t love His people without being around them. If He gives us His undeserved love despite our multitude of sins that nailed Him to a cross, how can we do any less for those He also died for?” There’s no I in team! The body of Christ is not a spectator sport nor is it one of self, but of self-sacrifice! Our culture is very egocentric and we’re very much a part of this culture so we must be active in overcoming our self-serving and self-centered tendencies. Hebrews 10:24-26 “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Note: Exhort - urgent appeal, to incite to good deeds; "exhorted the troops to hold the line." Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.” Colossians 3:16 “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God.” Reference scriptures:

· 2 Timothy 3:1-9 · Ephesians 4:11-16 · 1 Corinthians 13 · Proverbs 3:5, 6 · 1 Timothy 4:12 · Luke 24:45 · Romans 12:2 · John 13:34 · 2 Timothy 4:3-4 · James 4:1-10 · Hebrews 4:12 · Philippians 1:6 · 1 Thessalonians 5:23 · 2 Peter 3:16