Sermon Central
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Growing In Jesus Series
Contributed by E. True Neilson on Dec 16, 2014 (message contributor)
Summary: The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus!
SIMPLY JESUS
GROWING IN JESUS
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.
