SIMPLY JESUS
GROWING IN JESUS
HEBREWS 5:11-14
INTRODUCTION
-As you’re turning to Hebrews 5 I wanted to share some headlines
-Police in Wichita, Kansas, arrested a 22-year-old man at an airport hotel after he tried to pass two counterfeit he made.
-The hotel clerk caught on when she noticed the $16 bills.
-A bus carrying 5 passengers was hit by a car in St. Louis, but by the time police arrived on the scene, 14 pedestrians had boarded the bus and had begun to complain of whiplash and back pain.
-A Los Angeles man who later said he was "tired of walking," stole a steamroller and led police on a 5 mph chase until an officer stepped aboard and brought the vehicle to a stop.
-Certain words come to mind when you hear such stories…
-When you hear about grown people doing such childish things, you just scratch your head and think…why?
-Why do people do such immature things?
-It’s easy to pick on people who have made dumb mistakes.
-It’s easy to look at someone else and say “they’re so immature!”
-But it’s harder to take an honest look at ourselves and see our own areas of immaturity.
-Especially when it comes to the matter of spiritual maturity.
-That’s the issue at the end of Hebrews 5; the maturity of Christians men and women.
-Up until this point our author has written about all kinds of things, but now he stops…and in a moment of frustration or maybe just blatant honestly he says this:
11 There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen.
-See when you’re giving constructive criticism you kind have to soft sell it and butter them up first: You are spiritually dull!
-Something wasn’t quite right about the church our author is writing to. They weren’t exactly on fire over there!
-SPIRITUALLY DULL: LITERALLY HAVING A “SLUGGISH MIND.”
-Now I don’t know about you, but if someone calls me “dull”…
-I wouldn’t take it as a high compliment.
-But this isn’t just heartless name calling.
-This is genuine concern for people who are dragging along in their faith. These aren’t just people who were struggling.
-They were immature people who refused to grow up.
-You may know people like this.
-At this point of your life you may be someone like this.
-Our author seems to be writing to a whole church of people who were like this. And that’s a major problem.
-IF A CHURCH IS HEALTHY, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PEOPLE WHO ARE IMMATURE
-If we are always bringing in new people, and new people are always being saved, we should expect to always see people who have a lot to learn. That’s not a problem, that’s a blessing.
-The problems come when people refuse to grow up, refuse to get mature in their Christian faith.
-And that is who our author is speaking to. He says they…
DON’T LISTEN: THOSE WHO RESIST INSTRUCTION.
-At the very least these people he had in mind were lazy.
-And, at worst, these people were rebellious.
-Now when we think of rebellious people we often conjure up images in our minds.
-A rebel is some scary guy with black leather and a prison record.
-In our minds a rebel is that crazy eyed lady with a hand on her hip and a finger in your face!
-A rebel is that teenage kid who is skipping school and doing drugs
-But those aren’t the rebels he’s describing. He is writing all of this to church people.
-These immature and rebellious people he had in mind wore church clothes, and went to church meetings.
-These rebels knew a little Bible, could say a prayer, and had done some of the good deeds that Christians are supposed to do.
-But when you looked at their track record a theme emerged…they wouldn’t listen. They are rebels.
-They wouldn’t listen to the Spirit of God.
-They wouldn’t listen the Word of God.
-They wouldn’t follow their church leaders.
-These people wouldn’t listen to Jesus.
-He’s not writing to people who have room for improvement; that’s all of us…he’s writing to people who refuse to grow up.
-I’ve been in church all my life.
-And when we talk about the immature, or rebels, or the backsliders…certain easy examples tend to come up.
-Couples who are living in sin and won’t get married.
-People with some kind of addiction who R 2 proud to get help
-Husbands strained marriage and won’t go to counseling.
-And every pastor’s favorite…people who skip church for NFL!
-But there’s a more common form of immaturity that we see in the church everyday…and it’s not so easy to recognize.
-It’s indifference. My suspicion is that the author of Hebrews was fighting that kind of immaturity.
-Indifference is subtle; you might call it passive rebellion.
-This is when Christians aren’t necessarily doing anything wrong, but they aren’t necessarily doing anything at all.
-They come, they listen, throw some $ in the basket and go home.
-Every challenge to go deeper is ignored.
-Every appeal to get involved falls on deaf ears.
-Every teaching that calls for change or action results in nothing.
-Leaders always get frustrated with indifferent people like this…
-And maybe the author of Hebrews was frustrated w/his church.
-But that’s not how this passage strikes me.
-This isn’t a letter from a leader who is personally frustrated.
-This is a letter from someone who really cares about his people.
-And like parents with their kids…our author is truly concerned about the people he’s writing to. Listen to the next part:
12 You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others.
-It’s like he’s asking, “what is it going to take with you?”
-Look at how much time has gone by and there’s no growth.
-You’ve known Jesus so long that you ought to be leading the way for other people. You ought to be teaching others.
-What have you been doing with your life?
-Do you ever feel that way? I have.
-I really ought to be doing more by now.
-There are a lot of “ought to bes” in the church.
-That’s what he said to these Hebrew Christians. You ought to be farther along at this point in your Christian life.
OUGHT TO BE: THERE WERE GOOD PEOPLE (just sitting on their…potential) WASTING THEIR POTENTIAL.
-And that’s a terrible thing to watch…
-I remember a time at summer camp when I had a Jr. high boy that I was really pulling for named Brandon.
-The kid didn’t have a dad, he’d been moved around a bunch, and his mom thought it’d be good for him to go to camp.
-But it didn’t matter what we said, or what we did…he just didn’t want to listen.
-He wasn’t do anything especially wrong…but he wouldn’t do anything right.
-Every activity, every game, every lesson…he wouldn’t go with the program. My first reaction was to be frustrated because he was causing me problems with other campers and staff people.
-But I quickly realized that the bigger issue wasn’t my personal annoyance…(it’s not about me) it was the potential in this young man that simply being wasted.
-He was smart, he was funny, he was a natural leader, and he needed to be at church camp to hear about Jesus.
-But he as spiritually dull, wouldn’t listen, and he was indifferent.
-These Hebrew Christians should have been teachers, because they had been in the faith so long.
-There had been years of wasted opportunities, years of wasted energy, years with no growth, no productivity.
-I’m sure our author would have rather been singing their praises, but there was nothing to praise.
-You ought to be teachers by now…but the end of vs 12 says
Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.
-You should be mature. You should be ready for the deeper truths of the Scripture.
-You should be ready to tackle things that are a little tougher.
-Stepping up to bigger challenges. But you’re still stuck on the…
BASICS: TEACHING INTENDED FOR NEW CHRISTIANS. (SEE HEB 6:1-2)
-These Christians were like babies who are still drinking milk.
-Anyone who has had a baby understands this perfectly.
-When you first have a baby you don’t feed them cheeseburgers.
-They drink milk; breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
-You could make them a nice dinner, but it’d be wasted…they only drink milk. They simply aren’t ready for big people food.
-Now gradually you start giving them that Gerber baby mush.
-It comes in green, orange and yellow.
-They get to where they eat cheerios; they stick to their pudgy little hands…and someday they start eating real people food.
-We laugh at the messes they make, and the lack of coordination between their hands and there mouth. It’s cute.
-But if you’ve got a 20 year old who is still drinking a bottle, and eating cheerios in a high chair…not so cute anymore.
-And there are people who are like this with their faith.
-They come in all ages and stages of life…they could be saved for 10, 20, 30, 40, years and still be babies in the faith.
-The author of Hebrews was fighting that kind of immaturity, fighting that kind of indifference, fighting that kind of apathy.
-He knew that if these Christians started growing; they could end up being teachers.
-If they got on track they could make a difference for Jesus.
-If they started growing they could start discipling others.
-The Kingdom opportunities for mature Christians are endless!
-But babies in the church makes messes others have to clean up.
-Babies in the church cry when they don’t get their way.
-Babies draw the attention to themselves but contribute nothing.
-And many stagnant churches are like giant nurseries.
-There are a couple parents and a bunch of babies.
-We believe that God wants every Christian to grow to maturity.
-He wants every Christian to get involved in the Great Commission
-He wants every baby Christian to someday be a parent; someone who is helping to feed and grow baby Xians into mature Xians.
-But our author says something very direct to his readers.
13 For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. 14 Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.
-We are trying to moving on to maturity.
MATURE: THOSE WHO KNOW AND FOLLOW JESUS. (see James 1:22)
-I know that sounds vague.
-But maturity isn’t any one thing or any group of things.
-We could say mature people serve. That’d be true.
-Mature people read the Scripture. True statement.
-In our passage it says mature people discern right from wrong.
-You could say mature people pray, and tithe, and go to church.
-True…but people who aren’t mature also do some of those things
-There is no magic point when you know you’ve arrived.
-Maturity isn’t a checklist…you don’t get a maturity badge when you’ve completed the list.
-Maturity is first of all an attitude or a posture about things.
-It’s an attitude that says, “I am going to follow Jesus.”
-But our author hits on something that is very important to our church. He saw maturity as related to teaching others.
-Vs 12 is the key to all of this…maturity is when we take what Christ has put into us, and start putting it into others.
-That can be in a formal setting like a life2life group or CR.
-That can be informally…parents teaching kids at the dinner table.
-That can be sharing little bits of your faith with family, friends, neighbors or co-workers.
-Maturity is gaining knowledge of Jesus, but actually following Christ’s example by making disciples.
-And the trick to all this, and really what this passage is leading up to in my mind…is
TRAINING: MATURITY DOESN’T HAPPEN ACCIDENTALLY; IT IS THE RESULT OF INTENTIONAL TRAINING.
-If you want to run a marathon…at some point you’re going to have to start running.
-If you want to get a college degree you’ll have to take classes
-If you want to lose weight you have to diet & exercise.
-If you want to be a mature Christian, you’ll have to start training.
-And this is where our passage may get personal today.
-How much time has gone by in your walk with Jesus?
-And where are you at? Are you spiritually dull? Indifferent?
-There is no shame in admitting that.
-The past is the past and you can’t get it back. But there is a shame in saying, I’m immature and I know it, and it’s not going to change.
-I’ve never heard anyone actually say that…but people say it all the time when we start talking about training.
-I want to get into men’s accountability but it’s so early.
-I want to know the Bible better but I’m not a good reader or I don’t understand it.
-I want to go on a mission’s trip but I don’t have any money.
-I want to be a person of prayer…but I just don’t have time.
-I want to be a Great Commission Christian who is teaching others what Jesus has taught me…but…
-If you want to grow in the Lord, you’re going to have to start training. And the good news is that there are people who want to help you.
