Sermon Tone Analysis

Hebrews 5:11-6:3

I. Introduction and anticipatory set

A. A lazy class

Question: How many of your spent time reading and studying today's passage in Hebrews?

·         Why not?

·         Are you lazy?

·         Don't you care?

·         You are leaving all of the work of learning to me; you are not growing.

·         You are sitting back on your laurals waiting to be fed, like babies.

·         You need to wake up!

B. A sudden break...a tirade

Question: How did you feel when I said these things to you? Did it make you angry or defensive?

I wanted you to understand a little of the kind of impact these words must have had on the recipients of this letter and sermon.

Question: Why would the author take this approach?

This passage does not follow the line of reasoning from the previous verses.

·         Review the subject of last weeks lesson; Follow the line of ideas in chapter 5

·         Actually starts back in chapter 4:14

"/Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess./"

(Hebrews 4:14, NIV)

·         Focus on Jesus as our High Priest

·         Introduces an interesting character in v. 5: 10 --> Melchizedek

Regardless of purpose (we will get to that) the author is expressing his frustration and concern.

Like an irritated professor

·         You can almost see the professor pacing back and forth on the rostrum, lost in the flow of ideas in his lecture.

·         Suddenly he pauses and looks around at the students in the lecture hall.

Everyone is silent.

Blank stares

Example: My chemistry professor at NPS.

C. A teacher's frustration

There are two questions here:

1.

Why does the author suddenly break his line of argument and launch this tirade?

2. What is the author frustrated about?

The first is easy

·         Common rhetorical approach to add emphasis

·         Sets the stage for the important arguments that continue in later verses.

Now let's deal with the source of the frustration.

II.

An urgent call to spiritual maturity

I divide this passage into three segments

·         A confrontation 5:11-12 – passionate and “in-your-face”

·         An explanation 5: 13-14 – precise and uncompromising

·         An exhortation 6: 1-3 – urgent and hopeful

A. A confrontation v. 5:11-12

"/We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn.

In 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!/" (Hebrews 5:11-12, NIV)

·         /About this - /What is the "this?" - Melchizidek

·         /Elementary truths/ – quite literally the ABCs of the faith

What is the condition the author is concerned about?

Characterized by various authors as:

·         "Disinclination to press on in the Christian way ß important

·         Sluggishness

·         Laziness

But there is more to the problem as we shall see in the following explanation.

B. An explanation v. 5:13-14

"/Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil./" (Hebrews 5:13-14, NIV)

Verses draw a distinction between maturity and immaturity using the milk and solid food metaphor.

Key point: There is a consequence to remaining “milk dependent.”

What is it?

Answer: Lack of understanding about righteousness

Question: What does this mean?

Chrysostom uses a remarkable example here:

A baby puts everything in his mouth, even dirt, and is unable to discern between what is good and what is not good to eat.

F.F. Bruce puts it this way: "It is ethically mature people, those 'who through practice have had their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil,' who have built up in the course of experience a principle or standard of righteousness by which they can pass dicriminating judgement on moral situations as they arise" (Bruce, p. 136).

Something happens in spiritual maturity.

There is clarity about what is right and what is wrong, even under the most trying of circumstances.

Because maturity is so important, the author exhorts them to achieve it.

C.

An exhortation v. 6:1-3

"/Therefore 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, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

And God permitting, we will do so./"

(Hebrews 6:1-3, NIV)

This is a surprising passage.

·         Does not sanction the continued "milk" Christianity

·         Instead says "become mature"…take deliberate action.

This isn’t something that happens to, but rather is done by Christians.

Question: What ares the action the author calls for?

·         Stop discussing the rudiments

·         "Go on" - immediately move on to mature things

What the the elementary things that we are to move on from?

·         repentence from dead works

·         faith in God

·         instruction about baptisms (note this is plural)

·         the laying on of hands

·         resurrection of the dead

·         eternal judgement

Natural pairs (1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6)

F. F. Bruce suggests this is more complex:

The laying of a foundation of repentence and faith, consists of instruction about

·         baptisms = better translated ritual washings, does not refer to Christian baptism...a ceremonial cleansing...Jewish

·         laying on of hands = ordination, commissioning for purpose or office

·         resurrection = a personal outcome

·         judgement = God’s ultimate victory

Note: this is a very Jewish list.

The danger: Focus on these in a Jewish sense retained an acceptability in the church but lost the Christian distinctive

Similar to today's "cultural" Christians who:

·         Look like Christians

·         Act mostly like Christians

·         Leave subtle clues that their behavior is cultural and not true desicipleship...They are not the outsiders called for in <<1 Peter 1:17>>