Problem of Immaturity
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INTRO:
INTRO:
TS: The author is ready to expand upon the priesthood of Jesus. However, many of the audience of Hebrews were not ready. Now we address that readiness.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
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,
for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Spiritual immaturity brings with it
Laziness
Laziness
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
Spiritually lazy
They were in a state of lethargy and had a slow response to the gospel.
They were unable and even unwilling to learn more about Christ and His role as the great high priest because they were spiritually lazy.
They were satisfied with where they were.
Rejecting revelation brings hardness
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Claiming to be wise, they became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;
and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.
Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
AP: How tragic spiritual laziness is
People get comfortable.
They get some spiritual light, often inventing them for themselves.
They remain comfortable, but unsaved
They placate their conscience
They drown out the tugging of the Spirit
Often, they fight hard against those who stand for truth.
Inability to Teach
Inability to Teach
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,
for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
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,
Heb 5:
Every believer is to be a teacher.
Every believer is to be a teacher.
Every believer is to be a teacher.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
We encourage each other and as we walk through life with each other, we help each other grow in the Lord.
The Law had tutored the Hebrews and prepared them or the Gospel.
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
Now, they should have embraced the Messiah and be well equipped to teach Gentiles the way of God
All could have been used like Paul
He didn’t throw out his upbringing.
He had sat at the feet of Israel’s greatest teacher.
He knew the Scriptures and interpretations
God used Him to write much of the NT and developed our theology.
Instead, in their immaturity, they were unable to teach
They were empty and had nothing they could teach.
It would be like asking one who barely knew how to read to teach Shakespeare.
There is a natural progression:
We are born again- babes in Christ
all we know is we have sinned
The penalty of sin is death
Jesus paid that penalty
All who repent and trust Him are saved
WE CAN TELL that to others!
Children in Christ- Disciples
We learn more about Him and His word
We grow in faith, in prayer, in the Word
We should keep making disciples and can disciple new believers
Maturity- teachers
As we grow more wise in the faith, we can continue to share with others
Now we serve
Some as teachers
Some as ministers
etc.
Sadly, many today are stuck in spiritual immaturity are are not ready to teach.
Inability to move beyond the basics
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,
for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.
Heb 5:12
need milk, not meat
need milk, not meat
They still needed the gospel
They needed first steps in the faith
At they time they should be teaching, they still needed to be taught
Inability to use discernment
Inability to use discernment
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
Mature- complete,
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
1 Cor
Saved and growing in the faith.
Saved and growing in the faith.
Heb 5:14
Ready to receive imparted wisdom
Only the redeemed can receive and understand the deeper things in the Bible
Deeper as in more complex, not hidden
deeper as in more solid, not hidden
God’s word says what it says
It is up to us to listen to His word and seek to understand it.
The Spirit helps guide us into truth
It brings with it the power of discernment
The ability to distinguish good from evil
This isn’t some complex and mystical feeling.
It is understanding what the word says and recognizing error when we encounter it.
Christians have always needed discernment
just read many of Paul’s letters to churches
They corrected errors which had snuck into the body.
We need it today as well
“Christianity” is big business
there is money in the books, crusades, offerings, etc.
The greedy can be draw by that
Either to enter so called ministry
Or to follow prosperity teachers in order to get wealth.
We must use discernment in all areas:
Judge churches by the word
Judge teachers and preachers by the word.
Judge books by the word
Judge books by the word
Judge music by the word
AP: The last phrase, gives us how we overcome it.
Training our powers of discernment by constant practice distinguishing good from evil.
How do we begin that?
Spiritual disciplines:
Pray
Study God’s word
Yield to the Spirit’s convictions.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Today, don’t be satisfied with spiritual laziness!
