Maturity

Our Savior is Devoted to Our Development

8.15.21 [Hebrews 5:7-6:3] River of Life (12th Sunday after Pentecost)

Grow up! Nobody likes to hear this. If you tell someone they are being childish or immature, they will likely lash out or object vigorously. But that is what God’s Word has to say to God’s people, today.

Today in our New Testament reading, from Hebrews 5 & 6, God’s people are encouraged to grow up. To help us see this, we are given two stages in life to consider. An infant and an adult. An infant needs milk. An adult may like milk, but they don’t live on the stuff exclusively. They eat solid food. What adult would want to spend their whole life only drinking milk from his or her mother?

That’s God’s point. (Heb. 5:12) You should be feeding on solid food, but you still need milk—and you’re not ready for anything more substantial! (Heb. 5:12) By this time, you ought to be teachers. But, because you are not applying yourselves to the task of spiritual growth and maturing, (Heb. 5:12) you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s plan of salvation all over again. (Heb. 6:1-2) You already have been given a foundation of repentance and faith, baptism, and the hope we have in the resurrection and the last day, (Heb. 5:11) but you prefer to remain fussy spiritual infants. It’s a hard word from the Lord, but one we all ought to seriously consider and apply to ourselves.

No one likes to hear that they’re being immature. If you tell someone they are being childish, they will argue with you. Why? Because you’ve stung their pride.

But let’s consider this: how would a humble and mature person respond to that criticism? They would ask for examples. They would want, as much as possible, to learn from the wisdom and perspectives of another. Then they would sift through that information to find what is true, helpful, and constructive—all so that they could grow. Because a mature person never sees themselves as a finished product. They know they need to grow and they want to. Maturity is not a medal that dangles around our necks.

So, as best we can, can we adapt a humble and mature posture to this matter of immaturity? God’s Word, when we (James 1:21) humbly accept what the Lord of grace and mercy desires to plant deep into our hearts, is fruitful. He will only tell us what is true, helpful, and constructive—because he loves as a dear Father loves his children.

(Heb. 12:7) The God who disciplines us like his beloved children cannot stand to watch us squander our spiritual potential. He wants us to (Heb. 12:10) share in his holiness. (Heb. 12:11) This discipline may sting for a little while, but it will produce an abundant harvest of righteousness and peace for those who are trained by it.

So what does it mean to be spiritually immature? In this text, it’s two things—being 1) unteachable and 2) untrained.

First we are told that these spiritually immature people (Heb. 5:12) ought to have been teachers by now. So we might think that being spiritually immature means remaining a student. But that’s not what we are told here, is it? Being spiritually immature meant that they needed to be taught (Heb. 5:12) all over again. The problem is not that they are still learning. The problem is that they are trying to learn anything anymore. Spiritual immature people are content to have spiritual things go in one ear and out the other.

The spiritually immature mind is thrilled to be in a thousand and one other places when they should be thinking about the Word of God. The spiritually immature mind dwells on what is not true, not beneficial, and does not glorify God. The spiritually immature fly off at the handle and do not keep a tight rein on their tongues.

Does that ever describe us? How many times haven’t we let other things, lesser things, rob us of our concentration? How many times have we let our own anxieties and insecurities reign in our hearts, rather than the King of kings! We let the way someone looked at us cause us to forget how God looks at us and them. We let a careless word from someone we know or love cause us to overlook the carefully crafted and divinely inspired words of the God who knows all things and loves us unconditionally. We let a set back in life cause us to deny the truth that God promises to use all things for our eternal good.

It can even happen when we come together to worship the Lord! Sometimes, when we are in worship we are like engines revving at a stop-light. We may make some noise, we may fool someone else into thinking we’ve got some power under the hood, but it’s unproductive. The first characteristic of spiritual immaturity is being unteachable—unwilling to carefully consider what God’s Word has to say to you.

The second characteristic of spiritual immaturity is being untrained and neglectful. Really, it’s a consequence of the first characteristic. When you can’t be bothered (Heb. 5:11) to try to understand any longer, you’re not even capable of doing the demanding and difficult work of (Heb. 5:14) distinguishing good from evil.

You know how difficult this task is, don’t you? Evil comes in many forms. Typically, evil packages itself in all kinds of appealing ways. Evil entices us with power and pleasure, attention and affection, being in control and being known as correct, security and satisfaction, respect and honor. None of these things are evil, in and of themselves, of course. But the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh know how to manipulate you with your desire for them. Can you recognize when your desire for power or pleasure, attention or affection is leading you down a path of sin? Do you know how the devil will leverage your impatience and your indignation into all kinds of wickedness? Your own sinful nature knows where and when you are at your most immature, too. Immaturity often demonstrates itself in a first-frame of mind. Immature people are always fighting to be first. Immature people are always the first to complain. Immature people at the first signs of difficulty give in or give up. Immature people are always looking first, for a quick fix—even when they know it’s not a real solution. Immature people are easily-deceived and quickly confused. The second characteristic of being spiritually immature is being untrained and neglectful of God’s commands.

Do you see your own immaturity? I can’t miss mine. It’s embarrassing, isn’t it? We can be so fickle! Shockingly unstable and unreliable! We are not hypocrites because we are trying to fool people. We act like hypocrites because we are foolish people. We are (James 1:8) double-minded, day after day. We ask God to do something. He tells us what he is going to do—ultimately. And we respond by saying, But God…did you think of this? Did you consider that? Do you realize how this way of doing things is going to impact me? I know you say I should just trust you, but how can I when you aren’t giving me the information I’m looking for?

So how can we grow up? How do we move from milk to solid food? There is only one who can do this. (Heb. 5:7-10) We have a high priest who has made atonement for our immaturity and continues to invest in and encourage our maturing. This is the one that our text begins with: Jesus Christ. Notice what is highlighted about him.

Jesus went through a kind of maturing process. Of course, as true man, this was true physically. (Lk. 2:52) Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. But what the Scriptures offer us here is not about Jesus’ physical development. It speaks of his spiritual development in ways that may surprise us. Even though Jesus was the Son of God, (Heb. 5:8) he learned obedience from what he suffered. Of course, being fully God in every way, Jesus was always righteous. Righteousness is God’s nature.

But after taking on flesh and blood, Jesus learned a new perspective on righteousness—obedience. In his humiliation, he submitted himself to temptation. Never succumbing to a single temptation, he was (2 Cor. 5:21) without sin. He was obedient in every sense.

Jesus, your great high priest understands the demanding and difficult work of (Heb. 5:14) distinguishing good from evil. He has done it. He knew the devil’s evil intentions when he said, (Mt. 4:3) If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread. He recognized the Pharisees wicked goals, when they asked him (Mt. 12:10) Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? as a man with a shriveled hand stood before him. (Mt. 16:23) He perceived in Peter a devilish theology of glory when the disciple rebuked Jesus for prophesying his suffering and death. He understood that to give into the mockers at Golgotha who said (Lk. 23:37-39) If you really are the Messiah, save yourself would have meant ruining God’s plan of salvation. Even though his suffering and death were difficult and demanding, painful and shameful, heart-breaking and spiritually agonizing, he did not run away from the task of redeeming the world.

Instead (Heb. 5:7) he offered up prayers and petitions to God, to the one who could save him from death. And God heard his fervent cries and he answered his prayer with a firm, but loving no. No, there is no other way to save the world from its sins. No there is not other way to keep my promise.

Jesus suffered and died because this was the only way to complete the mission of our salvation. Having made perfect on all God’s promises, God did more than what Jesus petitioned for. By not saving his Son from death, Jesus (Heb. 5:9) became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, all who believe (Jn. 6:29) in him as the One God sent to be our Substitute and our Savior. Jesus’ painful experience of suffering and dying for our sins, had an incredible purpose. His death was our death. And his new life is given to us. He did all this so that we might be born again, born of the Spirit of God.

And you are. God’s Spirit has strengthened and nourished you with (1 Pt. 2:2) pure spiritual milk and you are growing up in your salvation. By God’s tender care our eyes have been opened and we have come to see sin and temptation as God does. We have experienced God’s power to save, and his patient love in how he responds to repentant sinners. We have come to taste and see that the Lord is good. In our baptisms he cleansed, claimed, and renewed his Spirit within us. We are not what we once were. We have been grown in grace and knowledge. We have been matured by our maker. Pruned by the Vinedresser who knows what it takes for us to be productive and fruitful.

Think of all that God has invested in you! All the time and energy and people he has committed to you. You did not come to him. You did not choose him. He chose you. He clothed you. He continues to grow you and encourage you. Jesus is your sympathetic Advocate and your encouraging older brother. He wants to see you mature and make the truths of God your own so that others may learn from your example. The Righteous One continues to speaks words of righteousness—calling you to live like a child of God because you are a child of God.

This maturing doesn’t happen overnight, but over time in his Word and Sacraments. There, in the means of grace, God grows you. He matures you. He makes you ready for what lays before you—the good and the bad. As he speaks to you in his Holy Word, he imprints upon your heart, his heart; he impresses upon your mind, his will. He assures you that he is always listening to all of your prayers, but that he will only do what is in your eternal best interest. He is training you, day by day, moment by moment, (Heb. 5:14) to distinguish good from evil. He is purging you of your desire for quick fixes. But rather he is instilling in you the wisdom to look first for how God is training you through your life circumstances and struggles. When your brothers and sisters in the faith speak a word of rebuke, you, as a maturing child of God, are not looking first to defend or justify yourself. Rather, first, you are seeking wisdom. You trust that God is using that person to develop you. And you consider it a joy and a privilege to have people who love you enough to speak hard words to you.

(James 1:2-4) You know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance in that same way that cardio produces endurance. Let God finish his work. Let him bless you with perseverance the best way, so that your perseverance can be made perfect and that you may be mature and complete.