Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

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Two words…two simple but powerful words that we’ve all heard at least once in our life…two words of simple action…maybe you heard these two words from a parent, friend, a grandparent, a teacher, or in my case my sister…two words I’ll never forget.

“Grow up!” Do you remember the first time you were told to “Grow up?” (Share) Who told You?

Growing up is a reality of life.

Growing up is a really big deal when you’re a kid.

Kids are often asked the dreaded question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Oh, the pressure!

Kids have dreams of growing up to be a superhero, a fireman, an astronaut, professional athlete, singer, or dancer.

I wanted to be football player when I grow up.

If I was asked that question today do you know what I’d say – ‘When I grow up I want to a “Cookie Monster” – seriously is there a better gig as an adult, if you didn’t know I really like cookies being a cookie monster on my street seems like a sweet deal.

Sometimes we pressure our kids to grow up too fast,

Teenagers can’t wait to grow up!

I want to grow up, get out of this town, make my own decisions, and be my own boss!

When we are young we can’t wait to grow up until you learn it’s not as easy as you think it is.

When we actually grow up it comes full circle – we don’t want to grow up anymore – we don’t want to get older.

On the extreme this is a disaster – guys who turn 55 and hit a mid-life crisis and trade it their wives and their cars for a younger model.

Eventually you accept you’ve grown up, you’re old and you know it.

Sometimes we live in denial about getting older, I think that’s me, but eventually we just know we’re old.

In case you don’t know when you cross that line, I found a help list.

· You know you’re old when…

I love it.

Some of these hit too close to home for some of you.

Growing up is an important part of our lives, we are all faced with the reality of growing up emotionally and physically but have you considered the call to “Grow up” spiritually?

Need

God’s Word reveals the need for us to “grow up” in our faith.

God’s Word speaks of the Christian life in terms of “infancy” and “maturity.”

We are born into God’s family through faith in Christ, we begin as “babes in Christ,” who must progress towards maturity in Christ.

There are far too many churches filled with baby Christians—there are lots of immature disciples in the seats—people who have been Christians for years but have never progressed beyond spiritual infancy.

Does God care about us “growing up” as followers of Jesus?

Does God call us to “Grow Up” as followers of Jesus?

Preview

Take your Bible and turn to HEBREWS.

Today we continue our journey through the book of HEBREWS – our series entitled “Encountering the Greatness of Jesus.”

I pray that through this series you are “encountering” and “experiencing” the greatness of Jesus in your life.

Hebrews was written to a group of Jews who had come to faith in Jesus—they believed Jesus was the promised Messiah—the One sent to save them from the power of sin and death.

As a result of their faith, they were being persecuted by their fellow Jews, friends and family who were persecuting them for leaving behind the faith of their forefathers, and due to this intense persecution they were being tempted to return to Judaism.

HEBREWS is a “word of encouragement (a really long sermon) exhorting the Jewish believers to persevere in their faith, don’t go back to Judaism because Jesus is greater, He is greater than the prophets, greater than the angels, greater than Moses, and greater than Aaron.

The penman’s instruction regarding Jesus’ priesthood comes to a screeching halt as the penman confronted the immaturity of his readers.

Today we return to where we left off to find the penman telling his readers “It’s time to grow up” – it’s fruitless to turn away from Jesus and go back to Judaism – you must persevere because of the promise of God’s salvation in Jesus is our only hope – Let’s turn our attention (hearts) to . . .

I) MOVING ON TO MATURITY

A disclaimer before we dig in – I have bitten off more than we can chew this week – I think this is the largest amount of text I’ve ever preached before (on a communion Sunday when we are pressed for time I might add) so there will points where we dig in to the details and other places will be a summary that I’ll entrust to you for deeper study on your own.

We have lots to learn, ponder, and will consider one primary application to our lives.

Today we’re going to see “A Candid Confrontation about Immaturity” (5:11-6:3), “A Serious Warning about Apostasy (6:4-8), “A Loving Word of Reassurance” (6:9-12), and “An Encouraging Declaration of Hope” (6:13-20).

Alright, let’s dig in!

A) A Candid Confrontation about Immaturity (5:11-6:3)

We begin with “A Candid Confrontation about Immaturity” (5:11-14).

A Candid Confrotnation about Immaturity” Read – Once again we see the penman’s heartfelt concern for the spiritual condition of his readers.

The penman was deeply concerned about their immaturity, this was an issue too important too ignore – so we find this candid (open and honest) confrontation.

We find there are times when we can’t “sugar-coat” an issue and must confront it head on.

It was true for the Christians in the first century and true for us today.

1) Problem (5:11-14)

We see the penman confront the Problem of Immaturity head on.

The penman revealed that their immaturity was the result of sluggishness and stagnation.

· Sluggishness (5:11)

The Jewish Christians were “Sluggish”— “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand (5:11)—the penman was concerned for the Jewish Christians because their lives had become marked by sluggishness.”

The Jewish Christians were “no longer trying to understand” what he was teaching them about Jesus’ greatness.

The penman had already taught them so much about Jesus’ greateness—greater than the prophets, angels, Moses, and Aaron—and he had so much more to teach them about Jesus’ priesthood.

Admittingly, it was hard to make the deep truths about Jesus’ priesthood and its connection to an ancient priest named Melchizedek clear.

Admittingly, the deep truths he was teaching them were hard to explain and understand, and he had much more to teach them about Jesus’ priesthood.

And yet, he was concerned because they were “no longer trying to understand”—they were “sluggish” in their efforts to learn—they were literally “lazy as to one’s ears”—slow to understand due to being “dull” in hearing what he was teaching them.

The Jewish Christians were in an ongoing state (condition) of spiritual “sluggishness”—they had become “lazy learners”—and this fixed condition was hindering his ability to teach them about the greatness of Jesus’ priesthood.

· Stagnation (5:12-14)

The Jewish Christians were “sluggish” to learn which caused them to “Stagnate” in their spiritual growth/maturity.

The penman confronted their spiritual “Stagnation” head on—"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!

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 (5:12-14)—the sluggishness of the Jewish Christians had caused to stagnate.

The Jewish Christians had stopped growing, progressing, and advancing toward maturity.

The penman called them out for not progressing toward maturity.

We see that his readers were not new Christians—“by this time you ought to be teachers—they had come to faith and walked with Jesus long enough that they should be teaching others about Him.

And yet, they still needed “someone to teach them the elementary truths of God’s word all over again”---they had stagnated in their growth and remained “infants” who still needed milk instead of solid food.”

Instead of being able to instruct others in the deep truths of about Jesus, these Jewish Christians were still in need of being taught the “beginning principles” of what God has spoken in Jesus.

There is nothing wrong with milk if you are a new believer, a babe in Christ is fed milk (basic teaching) but should eventually grow up to eat solid food (deeper teaching).

The problem is they have been Christians long enough to get off the bottle (elementary truths) and cut into a nice steak (deeper truths).

The Jewish Christians should not have been/remained infants in Christ (time) but progressed towards maturity—they should be “acquainted with the teaching about righteousness” (doing what is right)—they should be feasting on solid food (deeper truths) as mature believers—they should be believers who have been trained to distinguish good and evil due to the constant use of what they had been taught.

The Jewish Christians should have progressed to maturity, becoming people whose perceptions are trained by diligent practice to discern both good and evil (NET), his readers should be mature believers are able evaluate carefully and judge between good and evil not simply because they have knowledge but as a result of the practice of applying it to their lives.

Mature believers are able to discern between good and evil because they have been trained by their constant practice of what they have been taught.

Mature believers are those who through practice have their senses trained to distinguish good and evil—who have built up in the course of experience a principle standard of righteousness by which they can judge between good and evil—people who can exercise godly discernment!

The Jewish Christians had remained “baby Christians” (infants) needing to be taught elementary truths (ABC’s) instead of teaching truths to others.

The Jewish Christians had remained “baby Christians” (infants) who needed to be fed milk (basic teachings) instead of solid food (advanced teachings) that being put to use would train them to discern between good and evil.

The penman was deeply concerned about the spiritual condition of his readers and confronted their immaturity.

2) The Solution (6:1-3)

The penman identified the problem of immaturity due to sluggishness and stagnation and then proceeded to offer a solution—"Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, a and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, b the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

3 And God permitting, we will do so” (6:1-3)—the penman’s solution to the problem of immaturity is two-fold.

· Leave behind the ABC’s of Christianity (6:1)

First, “Leave behind the ABC’s of Christianity.”

“Leave Behind the ABC’s of Christianity.”

The penman challenged his readers to “leave behind the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity” (6:1)—the penman challenged his readers to progress beyond the “basic” teachings about Christ.

Living their lives in spiritual sluggishness” and “stagnation” is not an option.

The Jewish Christians must no longer be “bottle-fed” on basic principles (milk), they move beyond the ABC’s of Christianity, they must make progress to maturity.

· Press on to Maturity (6:1-3)

Secondly, “Press on to Maturity” “Press on to Maturity.”

The Jewish Christians must move beyond the basics (first principles about Jesus) and on to maturity in thought and behavior--“leave behind the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity” (6:1)—The Jewish Christians must leave behind “elementary school” and press on toward “high school” and “college.”

The Jewish Christians had been taught the basics which served as the proper “foundation” for their lives.

While this seems like a simple list of six foundational (elementary – basic – rudimentary) truths of the Christian faith, the structure in the Greek text is significant, and helps us understand what was truly foundational to the penman and the Jewish Christians.

We should understand this list in this way—let’s leave behind the elementary (ABCs) teachings about Christ and go on toward maturity—not laying again “the foundation of repentance and faith” which includes instructions about “ritual cleansing, laying on of hands, resurrection, and eternal judgement.

(PWPT)

Repentance from dead works and faith in God (6:1)

This marks the initial step of Christian conversion/commitment - “repentance from dead works and faith in God” (6:1).

A teaching found in both the OT and the NT - Dead works must be repented of because one’s conscience needs to be cleansed from the sinful deeds and ungodly vices.