"Let's Grow Up!"

INTRODUCTION: A Brief Analysis of Growth

Growth is something that's important to all of us.

From the moment we're born, we're weighed and measured.

Our growth is monitored by the pediatrician and later measured by our parents with marks on the wall that chart our progress with each passing year.

However, our spiritual stature may be dwarfed when compared to the marks on our physical growth chart--for growth within does not always match growth without.

The Bible has much to say about spiritual growth:

1 Corinthians 14:20 (Ephesians 4:14-15) (1 Peter 2:2)

1 Corinthians 14:20 CSB

Brothers and sisters, don’t be childish in your thinking, but be infants in regard to evil and adult in your thinking.

Ephesians 4:14–15 CSB

Then we will no longer be little children, tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching, by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. But speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head—Christ.

1 Peter 2:2 CSB

Like newborn infants, desire the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow up into your salvation,

We come into God's family the same way we come into our physical family--by being born into it!

John 1:11–13 CSB

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God.

John 3:3–7 CSB

Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?” Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.

And we grow spiritually much the same way we grow physically--by taking in nourishment & getting the right kind of exercise - (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 CSB

Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.

If we keep on growing, keep on exercising, and stay healthy, we will become spiritually mature!

BUT there is no guarantee that this process will continue unimpeded!

For though growth is the natural result of nutrition and exercise, it is not the inevitable result.

Often, something stunts the growth.

That's exactly what we find toward the end of Hebrews 5--a group of Christians old enough to be cutting their own meat but who were still eating baby food from a spoon!

(Read text:

Hebrews 5:11–14 CSB

We have a great deal to say about this, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

I. When Immaturity Is Prolonged – (5:11-13)

The scene in Hebrews 5 is a tragic one. It looks more like a day-care center than a church! Grown men and women sitting around in circles playing with ABC blocks.

They ought to know better. They ought to grow up! But they sit, playing in the nursery school of elemental truths!

William Barclay, The Letter to the Hebrews, writes:

The writer says that they still need someone to teach them the simple elements (stoicheia) of Christianity. This word has a variety of meanings. In grammar it means the letters of the alphabet, the A B C; in physics it means the four basic elements of which the world is composed; in geometry it means the elements of proof like the point and the straight line; in philosophy it means the first elementary principles with which the students begin. It is the sorrow of the writer to the Hebrews that after many years of Christianity his people have never got past the rudiments; they are like children who do not know the difference between right and wrong.

A. WHAT WE BECOME – (v.11)

Admittedly, the preceding discussion about Melchizedek and the priesthood of Christ was a complex one (5:1-10).

But these Hebrew Christians had cut their theological teeth a long time ago. Surely by now they were able bite off something as meaty as this. But they weren't.

"Why?"– (v.11b) – “…since you have become too lazy to understand.”

The Greek word for "lazy" (νωθροὶ, nothroi) is used only here and in (6:12). It means ‘thick, slow, sluggish, indolent, lazy.’

The original term is from two words, meaning "no" and "push."

A dull speaker, for instance, would be one with "no push," whose get-up-and-go got up and went!

But seldom do we apply the word to the audience—of being lazy listeners.

But that was the condition of the Hebrew audience!

When immaturity is prolonged, this is what we become--insensitive, uncaring, and unresponsive!

Christians who are “…too lazy to understand” lead lives of obscurity (regarding their faith) and fail to impact the lives of others or the culture around them!!

B. WHY IT HAPPENS – (vv.12-13)

1. We become too lazy to understand because we fail to grow up as we grow older!

Age alone does not produce maturity. –

Job 32:7–9 CSB

I thought that age should speak and maturity should teach wisdom. But it is the spirit in a person— the breath from the Almighty— that gives anyone understanding. It is not only the old who are wise or the elderly who understand how to judge.

Marking time is not the same as marching forward!

2. We become too lazy to understand because poor habits prevent GROWTH!

Look carefully at the spiritual habits cultivated by the Hebrews:

· They had a habit of taking in food, but not giving it out to others! – (v.12a)

· They liked a diet that consisted just of milk--not only was it sweet, but it went down smoothly and was digested easily!

(v.13a) - "...inexperienced with the message about righteousness" (‘…ἄπειρος λόγου δικαιοσύνης’)

The word "inexperienced" means ‘without trial’ or ‘without experience of’ and has the sense of meaning ‘not accustomed.’

Just as a baby is unskilled when it comes to cutting a thick steak placed on its highchair, so these Christians didn't quite know what to do with the meatier things of God!

II. True Marks of Maturity – (5:14)

Babies desire to be fed, burped, changed, and entertained! But God has a better plan for His children!

Three marks of maturity are found in verse 14:

A. SOLID FOOD!

"Solid food" is something you can sink your teeth into. It's not formula warmed to body temperature and bottle-fed; it's something that takes work and preparation and time!

It's not something to pacify your palate; it's substance to produce a strong body!

B. THE RIGHT KIND OF ACTIVITY!

"…whose senses have been trained" is what it takes to accurately apply the Word to our life.

γεγυμνασμένα – root word, gymnazo!

Practice, practice, practice. Hour after hour. Day after day. Year after year!

We can't expect to be suckled on Sunday morning and not have another feeding for a week. We must convert the food we take in by putting it to use!

C. KEEN SENSES! – "…trained to distinguish between good and evil."

We need to develop highly sensitive antennae to distinguish between the helpful and the harmful information we're exposed to on a daily basis.

The more you read and study God's Word, the more sensitive you are to truth!

CONCLUSION: A Practical Training Program!

A. We Need a BALANCED SPIRITUAL DIET!

We don't need an all-grapefruit diet or an all-protein diet or an all-carbohydrate diet. We need food from all the food groups! The same dietary principles hold true in the spiritual realm.

We shouldn't look to one teacher as our sole source of nourishment! We should have a balanced diet of teaching from different teachers. That way, we won't be so prone to fall off the deep end spiritually or get involved in personality worship or some other cult experience!

We need to avoid junk food and stick with a diet grown from Scripture! We need to learn to prepare it ourselves as opposed to settling for some attractively packaged dinner.

We also need to chew our food slowly and digest it thoroughly! There are many spiritual bulimics who binge on Sunday and purge on Monday morning!

B. We Need SUFFICIENT and SUSTAINED EXERCISE!

"No pain, no gain!" - We need Bible studies that challenges us! "Are you allowed to ask tough questions in your church?"

We need relationships that hold us accountable and spur us on to Christ!

C. We Need to Hone a Keen Edge on our Ability to DISCERN TRUTH FROM ERROR!

We need to be able to cut through the fat and get to the meat of a person's teaching!

We need to be able to spot a good steak from a pound of baloney. And there's a lot of baloney on the religious market these days!

D. REMEMBER that ALTHOUGH GROWTH IS NATURAL, IT ISN'T INEVITABLE!

Just because you've been a believer for a long time, does not necessarily mean you are mature!